posted on October 14th, 2010
For some reason the Columbus statue in Oakland has been the target of more vandalism this year than in years past. Columbus’ controversial legacy that includes discovering the “new world” from Europe’s perspective as well as bringing diseases to and enslaving the indigenous peoples of the Americas has also made this statue “probably the most popular piece of art that gets defaced for some reason” according to Pittsburgh public works director Rob Kaczorowski.
Apparently it was easier to clean up this time due to an anti-graffiti coating the statue got after the last defacing. I am against any damage to any public property, and while I can understand the feelings of the vandals, this is not an effective or appropriate way to vent those feelings. If by any chance those who committed this crime are reading this, stop hiding behind your spray paint and express yourself in a more mature way. Organize a protest, an educational event or start a movement to get rid of the statue if that is what you want. Graffiti is just going to be cleaned up again.
Posted in News, Oakland, Schenley Park | No Comments »
posted on September 25th, 2010
Ahhh, a modern sculpture with some controversy. “Walking to the Sky” is a stainless steel and resin sculpture by CMU alum Jonathan Borofsky. It was erected in the middle of “the cut” on May 15, 2006 and is one of the most obvious things on CMU’s campus.
Described by the artist as “a portrait of all of humanity rising upward from the earth to the heavens above — striving into the future with strength and determination” and “a symbol for our collective search for wisdom and awakened consciousness”, it just doesn’t live up to its goals for me. It looks like they’re walking up to the end of the pole in order to jump off, which would be a different outlook on humanity. I guess I tend to like sculptures that are either realistic or abstractly symbolic, rather than the realism plus literal symbolism here.
I didn’t get to take any pictures in 2009 when it was partially removed to be strengthened because it had started moving in the wind; I remember riding by on the bus and wondering what was going on.
I was surprised to learn while researching this post that CMU’s Walking to the Sky is a copy. The original is in Texas after a stint in Rockefeller Center, and there is another copy in Seoul. There are also variations with only one person apiece in Kassel, Germany and Strasbourg, France.
Another thing that bothers me about this sculpture is the built-in admirers:
It just seems a bit… cheeky. The 3 life-size figures at the base, staring up at the rest of the sculpture, can easily be mistaken for real people at a distance. It seems like the part of the sculpture on the ground is perpetually playing the prank of staring up at nothing just to see how many people it can get to stare up at nothing with it.
The students at CMU also did not like the sculpture when it was proposed and installed originally– mostly due to the prominent location the sculpture was given with little input from the student body. It also seemed to provoke a lot of negative reactions– from “vaguely phallic” to “it defines us as a leading university that doesn’t believe in physics”. It’s also been the object of at least two temporary “modifications” presumably made by mischievous students.
The trustees and President of the university believed in the positive symbolism of the sculpture and its relevance to CMU’s goals, had a forum with the students about the location, and have honored a distinguished alumnus. Student dislike of the sculpture seems to have died down as new students come in, and Walking to the Sky seems here to stay.
Tags: 2000s, jonathan borofsky, resin, stainless steel
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posted on September 19th, 2009
The statue of Christopher Columbus in Schenley Park was one of the first mysteries of Pittsburgh for me when I started at Pitt. Why would there be a statue of him HERE? He was never anywhere near Pittsburgh!
I now know that there was an effort started in 1909 at the first celebration of Columbus Day to erect a monument to him in Pittsburgh, and that it took almost 50 years for the funds to be raised (pg 182). Most of the fundraising efforts were headed by the Sons of Columbus of America, an organization founded from combining 3 other organizations. It has chapters across the country but the headquarters remain in Pittsburgh.
The statue is bronze and is one of Frank Vittor’s many sculptures around Pittsburgh. Anthony Vittori, his brother, did the granite base. I think I actually like the base better– perhaps it’s because it’s easier to see! Columbus is too high. I love this sun on the back of the base.
The ship on Columbus’ right side has a pattern of one forward C and one backward C alternating on it, which I didn’t notice until I read about it at this site devoted to memorials to Columbus.
As you can see in this picture, it’s quite close to the University of Pittsburgh, but it’s not where the original permit applied to put it. Apparently they wanted it to be where Schenley Plaza is now, which was denied because it would interfere with the “grand entrance” to the park as a memorial to Mary Schenley. This is pretty funny since the grand entrance didn’t get completed until just a few years ago and was a parking lot for quite a while.
Poorly stitched together photos of the restoration plaque
The piece was restored in 1992 for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ journey at a cost of $150,000. It was vandalized in 1997, just before 505th anniversary celebrations were held there, and painted red with the words “505 years of resistance” as a protest (allegedly) made by Native Americans against the idolization of Columbus. I’ve never really understood why he was so famous– he didn’t set foot on the continent, he wasn’t even the first to do so, and he didn’t get where he was trying to go in the first place!
Tags: 1950s, bronze, frank vittor, granite
Posted in Oakland, Schenley Park | 1 Comment »
