A Neighborhood Gardener

A few photos of a small statue in Holladay Park, across the street from Lloyd Center. It's simply titled "A Neighborhood Gardener". I hadn't looked at it that closely, but I knew it was a statue of someone gardening. That seemed like a silly idea, and I arrived figuring I'd make fun of it and have a few cheap shots at its expense, but I decided I actually kind of like it. It's one of a trio of works by Tad Savinar that were installed when the park was renovated a few years ago. Somehow the statue makes a lot more sense as part of a series rather than as a standalone object. And the series seems to be a meditation on domestic coziness. I just can't manage to get very snarky and disagreeable about coziness.



If the Neighborhood Gardener had been here back when I was in college and thought I knew everything, I'd have sneered at it and probably called it bourgeois. Well, of course it's bourgeois, that's the whole point, isn't it? It's not exactly a heroic Soviet peasant tilling the soil, is it? Although, amusingly, the facial expression is similar across economic classes: Determined, mildly pleased, and mildly annoyed. Trying to convince plants to live and grow will do that to you. I've discovered this recently.



I'm not alone in being unable to rant about the statue. If anyone could pull it off, it would be the nameless proprietor(s) of the Portland Public Art blog. He/she/it has no doubt forgotten more about art than I will ever know, and manages to be even snarkier than I am when talking about it. And yet, the piece about the Neighborhood Gardener is gentle, even sweet, and expounds a bit on the theme of coziness.



My only complaint, if you can call it one, is that none of the pieces in Holladay Park include cats, even though cats add coziness to everything. I suppose that would just be too easy, and would verge on cheating. I dunno. Like I always say, I've never claimed to be an art critic.