Not much public art: Quel Avenir
François Cardinal compares Montreal to Chicago on Quel Avenir today, finding us lacking in monumental pieces of public art.
But art has to go with the city’s scale, and Chicago has areas of very big classic skyscrapers in a way we don’t. These things come about partly by intention, yes, but also partly as a result of a city’s particular history.
Actually, I think people just stop seeing public art after awhile. It becomes part of the landscape, whereas if you visit a different city the art pops out at you because of its novelty to you. When OpenFile did a recent look at public art in Canada, I was asked informally to suggest some here, and came up with a long list just running through my visual memories. We have lots. We just don’t notice it any more.
paul 09:15 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
I agree, I would argue that Montreal has significantly more public art than Chicago – but much of ours is in the form of historical sculptures.
The one piece that Montreal, and every city should try to emulate, is the ‘bean’ pictured in the article. It is rare that a piece of art can engage so many people and actually encourages interaction (with the street scape and with other people).
Most of our art is to look at, not to engage with.
Bill Binns 12:56 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
A lot of what we do have is pretty hideous as well. I particularly dislike that white statue of the fat person crouching down at the corner of Sherbrooke and St Laurent (or St Denis?). Not a big fan of the new bird man statue on Sherbrooke either but realize I’m in the minority. There is a statue of a monkey riding a horse on Sherbrooke just west of Guy that I would proudly display in my living room if I could afford it.
Ephraim 15:34 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
@Bill – Sherbrooke @ St-Denis, it’s forever disfigured, usually with paint.
Kate 17:35 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
Disfigured? It’s a big plaster statue. Paul recommends emulating the Chicago “bean” but a piece of art can reflect public feeling in other ways. The crouching guy has been around for decades, occasionally hosting statements or elements (he has a red square on him right now) that reflect how people feel. But he’s not a massively valuable piece of art, so in a way he just patiently exists to address our urban angst. I think it’s great.
Ephraim 05:58 on 2012/06/15 Permalink
Okay, maybe not the right word. People are forever painting it. They keep on repainting it back to white. It has a sort of yellowish colour to it, now. It was originally shining white.
Kate 07:07 on 2012/06/15 Permalink
Actually, Ephraim, it was originally matte grayish-white, and it was originally positioned further down the street at the little square called Place Pasteur. I think it was refinished with a glazed effect after somebody realized it was difficult to remove markings from the original finish.