Concept and Conflict in Public Art

© 2007 Niki Charitable Art Foundation. Photo © Kristin Alexander 2006

Niki de Saint Phalle, "La Cabeza" (2000)

© 2005 Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Photo by Wolfgang Volz

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, "The Gates" (1979-2005)

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It’s a foregone conclusion, observed Rochelle Steiner, director of New York’s Public Art Fund, that any proposal that comes up will meet with some derision. “That’s the history of public art,” she said, and in her organization’s 25-year history of working with artists such as Lawrence Weiner, Pipilotti Rist and Takashi Murakami, it has had its share, especially in a city known for its outspokenness.

But for better or worse, public art has the power to set tempers ablaze all over the country.

Take, for example, the widely publicized dispute in Sarasota, Fla., over a collection of life-size clown sculptures placed on city sidewalks. On one side of the debate is the city commission and on the other, the local Public Art Committee, which has lobbied for the removal of what it considers “tacky art.”

(Apparently others dislike the sculptures, as well, since almost all of them have ended up being vandalized, through dismemberment, decapitation, burning and/or theft.)

Meanwhile, in Scottsdale, Ariz., last month, the city’s Public Art Program cancelled plans to build a “synthetic garden” of 8- to 14-foot purple flowers, designed by artist Mary Lucking, after neighborhood residents mounted a protest.

Gauging Public Perceptions

At the core of many of these debates, explained longtime public art organizer Linda Blumberg, are feelings of uneasiness about the unknown, dissenting views on aesthetics and identity and, of course, monetary concerns.

Now the executive director of the Art Dealers Association of America, Blumberg spent years working in the realm of public art, including heading up the planning committee for Christo and Jean-Claude’s high-profile Gates project in New York’s Central Park, which took 26 years to be approved and built.

“With art you have to take a leap of faith,” Blumberg said. “People are resistant to what they don’t know.”

And neighborhoods especially tend to take public art projects to heart, because those artworks—particularly the permanent ones—often come to define the area, she added.

Scottsdale city councilman Tony Nelssen (of that failed synthetic garden) probably described the situation best, when he told the East Valley Tribune: “[Installing a public art project] is kind of like telling people what kind of underwear they should wear. It’s a very personal decision.”

The Market Saves the Day

In spite of the controversies and protests and abuses aired in the pages of local newspapers, public does appear to be on the rise—primarily because of the hyperactive art market, which has helped reinvigorate interest in even the type of artwork that can’t be acquired at a gallery or auction house.

“Whenever there’s an increased interest in the art market, it seems to generate interest in [public art],” said Steiner. “There’s also an increasing interest in city planning and urban development, and public art comes as a coalescence between those two forces. That has helped us give artists the ability to do unexpected things.”

However, the purpose of public art is not necessarily to meet market demand, or even to satisfy public interest. Some of the best projects have been some of the most unpopular.

“There are endless examples of public art projects that communities hated at the beginning but later became beloved objects of the city,” said Blumberg, citing as a prime example the unnamed Picasso sculpture in Chicago’s Daley Plaza, with which residents have long had a love/hate relationship.

Secrets of Success

So what does make a great work of public art?

While the exact ingredients are subjective, Herve Bechy of the Paris-based Web site art-public.com believes the ability to communicate a message and stimulate new ways of thinking is at the top of the list.

A lecturer and adviser on public art projects in Europe and the United States for more than 30 years, he said, “The coherence between the concept that motivates a work of art and its physical form is, in my mind, what determines the quality of the final result. Nevertheless, examples of this are fairly rare, because it's not easy to live up to that challenge. Sometimes the content of a work is interesting but the form is weak; sometimes the form is attractive but the concept is lacking meaning or impact.”