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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Richard Serra in Seattle

Posted by on June 29 at 10:05 AM

So it looks like a bunch of us walking-notebook types will be meeting with the man himself when he visits the Olympic Sculpture Park for a tour and to talk about his work on July 24, by which time his Wake will be up and visible from the street as you walk by. (Check it out below.)

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Wake is the second piece to be installed at the park, which opens Oct 28, but it’s the first one visible to the public. Mark Dion’s nurse log went in last weekend, but a greenhouse is being built around it, so you can’t see it. Here are the available images from that project, what Dion calls “a learning lab on Northwest ecology.”

Mark Dion.jpg

Seattle Art Museum expects to announce another piece for the park today, and “it’s a big one,” spokeswoman Erika Lindsay said. Stay tuned. She said there will be one more work announced in July, and that will complete the opening lineup.

And for all you curious about Louise Bourgeois’s male nude fountain, that will be the last piece installed. Here’s her drawing of the fountain, and an image from her six eyeball benches (six benches, six eyeballs, three pairs of eyes), which will be installed near the fountain:

bour-7527_LG.JPG

eye_benches.jpg

A neighbor is posting his observations about the park’s construction on the museum’s web site in blog form here and the webcam, perched above the pavilion with the flying roof, is here.


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The dotcom I work for is moving into an office building that overlooks the sculpture park. I have to admit I've been sort of grumbly about the move (longer commute, less dining options, etc) but the prospect of eating my lunch while sitting on an eyeball is sort of awesome.

The eyeball bench is cool, but that Serra monstrosity looks every bit as craptacular as his collection of rusting plates of sheet metal in St. Louis, which turned a whole city block from something that could have been usable park land into an eyesore that's avoided by all but the graffiti artists. Most visitors to the city don't even realize that it was intended to be art -- they think it's construction debris. And if you actually think that this thing *is* art, then you'd probably consider an installation like this to be a masterpiece.

Only Seattle would dedicate an entire park to plop art. Freakin' backwater....

I know what the big secret is... :)

I am not spophisticated at all when it comes to art, but i think those eyeball benches are awesome. They look straight out of a tim Burton movie or something.

The real question is, whose sculptures get to be stared at by gigantic eye benches?

Loved Serra's sculputures at Dia Beacon. Really excited about having what looks like a terrific work in Seattle.

The eyeball benches would be great if they were in the city somewhere. Like on a sidewalk. Instead they've put them in this desolate future crime scene. Plop art is right. This is embarrassing.

I don't know how I feel about those eyeballs. Anyone else remember the sitcom, My Two Dads?

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