Eyesore to Eye Candy

An exciting overview of trends in public art placemaking, Roberta Smith's article in the August 22 New York Times is well worth reading. As she notes, "over the past 15 years public sculpture — that is, static, often figurative objects of varying sizes in outdoor public spaces — has become one of contemporary art’s more exciting areas of endeavor and certainly its most dramatically improved one." For those who want to get excited by possibilities, Smith's piece is a good place to start.

The picture above of Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate,” nicknamed by locals in Chicago "the Bean," is by Peter Wynn Thompson for The New York Times.