Comments on: Adams Morgan Sculpture Selected – Bike Musician! For Reals This Time. Or Maybe Not, So What Exactly is the Role of the DC Commission on the Arts?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:27:24 +0000

You should get those folks from Albus Cavus painting the large murals around town to work on this corner.

By: deeceevoice

deeceevoice — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:01:30 +0000

That’s “monstrosity.” Yeah, it’s HUGE and butt-ugly.

By: deeceevoice

deeceevoice — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:38 +0000

I’m a resident of Adams Morgan/Kalorama, and I absolutely HATE this godawful, ugly-a** monstronsity! Ten years from now, it’ll be hopelessly dated (and still ugly as sin). And why the eff isn’t that damned dog on a leash? That’s all we need. Public art reinforcing the rudeness/selfishness/irresponsibility/illegal behavior of some dog owners who let dogs walk the streets untethered.

How about a tree or two? Benches? A fountain?

What a misrable idea — and with seemingly absolutely NO thought whatsoever to foot traffic patterns or safety/practicality.

Just stupid.

By: Bill C.

Bill C. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:30:48 +0000

I think it’s actually cool that people got worked up over this, no matter which side they’re on. I think it’s even cooler that this thing won’t get built. Thank god. It just doesn’t cut it.

I was one who sent an email to the commission begging them to reconsider. I don’t even live in Adams Morgan, but I go through there everyday and I consider it my center of gravity in DC. With all the nice changes to the streetscape around there, this sculpture (or any of them) would have been a serious mistake. Need to do better.

By: dcartsdownlow

dcartsdownlow — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:23:51 +0000

grumpy,
not a sam gilliam?
or an eduardo rodriguez?

By: grumpy

grumpy — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:16:03 +0000

I’ve changed my mind — only a Miro or Calder sculpture is good enough for this corner.

By: dcartsdownlow

dcartsdownlow — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:11:39 +0000

i agree with i agree with dcartsdownlow.

By: Redhead

Redhead — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:47:09 +0000

In interior design it’s a little easier to peg these distinctions. Or, at least, it seems clearer to me.

Modern is clean-lined. Some say it had its height of expression in the 1950s, though is still being produced today. Think Madmen and most of the stuff you see at Design Within Reach.

Postmodern often mixes elements of many different periods. So you get a victorian tufted couch with metal industrial legs.

Contemporary is like what you buy at Macys. It speaks directly to the time we live in now.

By: I Agree with DCArtsdownlow

I Agree with DCArtsdownlow — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:39:51 +0000

DCArtsdownlow has it right. I’ve worked with the Commission. And currently they’re a bit of a mess, but I believe in their mission. I’ve served on grants panels for them.

I also believe that as messed up as they currently are, they probably have better systems in place for judging/vetting public art than comments on a blog post.

If you want to have your horizons broadened about what classifies as art – take a little trip to Baltimore to the Visionary Art Museum. Totally worth it.

By: CoHi-anite

CoHi-anite — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:44:09 +0000

To be honest, its just classifications of time periods that art historians/critics use to specify a grouping of art. Its kind of like having a Renaissance period and then a Mannerist period, then Rococo… etc.

Modern art is usually early 20th century up through the end of the 60s (ish) and Postmodern is from the 70s through possibly the 80s or 90s. I won’t get deep into it because some critics and scholars don’t think that the classifications work as there is such a diversity of types of art during those time periods that there is no such thing as Modern or Postmodern. Postmodern for some show a shift away from whatever Modernism was (although again I will point out that there is no one Modern “style”). Contemporary art is artists who are working today or the recent past and usually are still doing work.

Does that help? It even confuses me when critics and scholars won’t agree on exactly what they are!