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by Nancy Lupo

In Harriet F. Seine’s article, Responsible Criticism: Evaluating Public Art, in the December 2003 issue of Sculpture magazine, she proposes ways in which we might go about evaluating and engaging with public art. She says that the best time to write about public art is not immediately after the work is installed but in time, once people have had a chance to spend a few seasons with it. Following this logic, now is surely an appropriate time to have a look at the many single object sculptures that came out of the late 1960’s public art boom and made works by Alexander Calder, Picasso, Louise Nevelson, Tony Smith and Jean Dubuffet common fixtures in many big city bank plazas. In Los Angeles, you can see evidence of this boom on the Bunker Hill Steps, and surrounding Wells Fargo and Bank of America Plazas.

The first question I am always struck with when looking at works of art that are owned by and located on bank plazas is, who owns the meaning of the work? Have companies, yearning for symbols of status and power, unfortunately appropriated them or does the artist’s work have intellectual sovereignty that can subvert if not transcend any context? While banks and large corporations might believe that having a rocketing, rectilinear form in front of their building gives them power, do the people who interact with the work on a human scale have experiences that overlook the bank’s A to B aspirations?

Consider then Louise Nevelson’s Night Sail located downtown at the Wells Fargo Center Plaza on Grand Street. It is a towering, black steel construction that does obliquely resemble a boat under full sail. It is stealthily navigating a narrow and shadowy corridor of the plaza, further adding to the subtlety of Nevelson’s signature black on black assemblages. If a passerby isn’t in the mood to really look at NightSail then it might easily be taken for granted as architecture. If however, a passerby is attuned to space, the sculpture might look like it is hiding out, subversively revealing itself at precise moments.

While it might be possible to take a survey to determine a majority in public opinion, perhaps a better option is one that falls in line with what Seine is suggesting-- we should allow time to pass before evaluating works of public art. It is not to say that a first reading isn’t valid, but that in truth, there are many readings to be had. One reading might say that Nevelson is a sellout; another might say Bank of America is the most powerful bank on earth. In between these two there is a moment where we can all look and decide for ourselves, 24-hours a day, right?

(*Image: Louise Nevelson, 1985, Aluminum and steel, Wells Fargo Center Plaza.)

Posted by Nancy Lupo on 8/19/07