Eyesore "art" coming to Van Ness Avenue
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| "Maybe" this is crap |
A public comment on the above:
TO: Zoe Taleporos, San Francisco Arts CommissionThis is public comment on the San Francisco Arts Commission’s selection of three towers to be installed in the middle of Van Ness Avenue at the intersections of Market, Sutter, and Union as part of the Van Ness “Bus Rapid Transit” [BRT] project, which will remove two traffic lanes, nearly all of the parking, and all of the mature trees on Van Ness Avenue to install four lanes of red-painted pavement in the center of Van Ness Avenue for exclusive use of buses.The three Jorge Pardo towers are hideous, and you, San Francisco Arts Commission, need to get a grip. To claim they are some form of “modern” conceptual art depicting “redwood trees” growing out of concrete is a painful attempt at justifying this garbage. Conceptual art itself is a joke that’s been repeated for 100 years now, since Marcel Duchamp’s famous urinal as “Fountain,” circa 1917. Duchamp’s “Fountain” would be much more appropriate for San Francisco streets, but the point is, we get it, and, far from being “modern,” the joke is old and stale now!Instead of more ugly visual clutter, leave the actual trees in the Van Ness median strip, or add real redwood trees there---not a conceptual joke on the public and taxpayers! The BRT itself is an ugly, unwelcome visual adulteration of a grand boulevard that is also a U.S. Highway traveled by millions, adding insult to the injury of permanent traffic congestion.The only good that will come out of your joke on the public is to once and for all enable the public to mount enough outrage for a campaign to de-fund the San Francisco Arts Commission, along with preventing the MTA and the SFCTA from doling out millions for this garbage.Sincerely,Mary Miles
Rob's comment:
From the Arts Commission's site we get this artspeak:
Jorge Pardo’s work draws on multiple disciplines as it challenges historical definitions and discourses. His visually seductive body of work explores the intersection of contemporary painting, design, sculpture, and architecture. Employing a broad palette of vibrant colors, eclectic patterns, and natural and industrial materials, Pardo’s works range from murals to home furnishings to collages to larger-than-life fabrications.For the Van ness Bus Rapid Transit project, Pardo has designed three large scale lighting sculptures (20’x7.5’x5.5’). The sculptures will be fabricated from steel that will be illuminated from within. The artworks will be cited[sic] at the end of the platforms at the Market, Sutter, Bush and Union Street Stations.Artist Statement: “the work is an urban coastal redwood……it is made of steel, light and weather[sic]…..it is young not old….it comes out of the concrete…not the soil….it does not grow…..its purpose is to orient and remind….maybe of the past….maybe the present…..it is an urban machine…"
Insult to injury: Junk "art" is also planned for Masonic Avenue after the city screws up traffic on that busy street.
Labels: Art, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), City Government, Eyesore of the Week, Language, Muni, Van Ness BRT
posted by Rob Anderson @ 1:49 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
We need every bit of green living thing we can get in this city. Why not just restrict parking along the curb on each side of Van Ness (including commercial vehicles) and run exclusive transit along the curb lane. A lot less expensive and keeps the green, and also keeps people waiting for buses out of way of traffic. Maybe build some parking structures for the lost curb parkers that are going to retail establishments. I know this is dumb idea, but my jewish mother would have picked it and she never went to transportation graduate school.
Anonymous, your plan will only cause pollution and further inconvenience drivers to benefit a few bus riders, who make up only half a percent (at best) of Van Ness traffic. I am asking Mary Miles to sue to based on the CEQA law. We'll see you in court.
The proposed sculpture will "catch" and collect trash. The Van Ness / Market corridor is windy. The sculpture has holes, rails, and hooks, all of which are great for holding onto bits of paper and plastic typically found floating in that environment.
I read that not only will the mature trees be removed from Van Ness, but the beautiful historic street lights as well. I have always admired the unique street lights on north Van Ness.
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