There's no doubt that these are trying times around here. As mentioned before, my hometown is recovering from it's first (and hopefully last) political scandal in years, Long Beach's economy is in upheaval, with city council candidates not just entertaining the idea of city employee furloughs but picking it up, taking the idea of furloughs out to dinner and chatting endlessly with it from sundown to sunrise. So it's encouraging to see that the local powers that be have the time, resources and money to make things like the orange abstraction you see on my left. Actually, it's not an orange abstraction. It's an Orange Twist by Kathleen Caricof; capitalized and italicized because - as you might guess - it's the title of Long Beach's newest addition to a long line of expensive, bad public art. This particular piece sits idly at the intersecion of Atlantic and 45th and ran the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency $104,000. And yes, it's almost all bad. Don't take my word for it, visit the Long Beach Art Council's map of local public art (don't click on districts 8 and 9 though, as they're apparently no-mans land and you'll get a 404!).
And do artists like Kathleen Caricof (who lives in, Denver, by the way) make their livings off of this kind of money? I ask because Caricof's online CV is rife with "Select public art commissions" like Orange Twist ("select" implies she's omitted a few sculptures, I assume) and it's actually pretty light on real exhibitions. Moreover, only one of those exhibitions took place in a museum (the rest of the entries are either for galleries or too ambiguous to discern). I know I'm not one to judge, really, but I'll offer a better alternative. Actually, it's not even my idea. Long Beach came up with it 14 years ago: On Belmont Shore's well-to-do and beach adjacent Second Street, the Long Beach Arts Council decided there was a need for public art. The first smart moved they made was by hiring a local resident. And for cheap! Craig Cree Stone was paid just $50,000 to paint dozens of drawings of animals, people and vehicles on the ground and walls. The clever part: at first glance the drawings look like shadows cast from Second Street's numerous parking meters. The cleverest part: the entire project was funded by change collected from—you guessed it—parking meters.
Why not make more art like that? Or at least, if we're not going to hire a local artist, maybe hire one so famous that he or she will attract outside spectators? Whatever Long Beach decides to do, it won't change the Orange Twists' fate, it doesn't look like that thing is going anywhere. Thanks, Long Beach.
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Phew! I'm glad to know it's not just me. I just drove by this the other day and almost ran into a light pole...intentionally. What an eyesore. And to think that the city spent $104,000 (seems like I read in the local rag it was $140,000 but my memory serves less and less these days) to grace us with this thing. Having just been invited to and attended a "focus group"
for the group Create!LongBeach (which I soon discovered was a spin-off of the ner do well group Long Beach Arts Council currently trying to regain relevance in the city) it is apparent to me how these things come to pass. Yes, and why DID they feel the need to hire outside LB? All this talk about shopping locally apparently does NOT apply to the city themselves.
Personally, I'm sick of the whole "arts community" in LB.
Thankfully, as a "maker" (I decline the term artist) I don't need to depend on the support of the city in which I have resided in for the past 30 plus years in order to make a living as a full time creative person.
Thanks for speaking your mind on this Kevin. And letting me speak mine.
My first reaction to your article was to chastise you for dissing somebody's art. Perhaps for the city expense... but still, what is art? Art still remains in the eye of the beholder....
Then I clicked on the photo of the artist Cree Stone.
Wow. I get it it.
Not necessarily that Kathleen Caricof's art is without merit, mind you. But yeah.... I agree... spread the wealth among local artists, especially genuinely inventive and playful art such as that of Craig Cree. Cree's art genuinely tickles the imagination and soul of the artistee... ha ha, my name for the viewer. Art that captures a soul is probably more significant than that which does not.
Again... wow.
Jeff
Yes, I love the shadow paintings too! So light and fun- interactive really. The hilltop park in Signal Hill has something similar.
One would have to go play in traffic to interact with the orange twist. I too looked at Caricof's site and saw numerous images of her other works. The one thing that really struck me is the placement of her works. Notice the settings in which the sculptures are placed. Serene, along pathways,gardens, quiet spots, in a cityscape near a bench. They fit into their surroundings. They give pause.
Perhaps the Orange Twist is more fitting than I thought. Bright Safety Orange, smack in the middle of a busy street-seen by commuters rushing from one place to another with no time for art in their lives. NOW it makes sense!
(kinda like an artistic giant safety cone screaming out-CAUTION- this is Art)
Now I get it!
i could not believe that piece of junk.
104 THOUSAND dollars? not, maybe a hundred four dollars? made by a bunch 4th grade cub scouts?
that money could have gone to put two people to work CLEANING UP THE CITY for an entire year. salary, vacation, taxes, even schooling for those two poor souls. teach them a skill/ trade for that year, and then they can get a real job.
nope.
i will see the councilman about the foolishness of this junk.
sincerely,
old logical guy who wants the city to balance its [our?]checkbook.
it is a true representation of the arts and the art councils in Long Beach. absolutely perfect.
Sorry to disappoint the Arts Council haters but I've checked it out (because I was pissed off too!) and the Arts Council had NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. Take your complaints to the RDA or whoever made the decision on the Orange Twist... though no one seems to want to own up and take responsibility now.