Evermore!
Plans for Poe Square proceed apace! Now the Poe Foundation is inviting the public to comment on the three finalists for a sculpture (or in one case, structure) dedicated to Poe on the corner of Boylston and Charles Street South, near where Poe was born (Poe's birth home was razed in 1959).
Last September the Poe Foundation announced three finalists in the Poe Boston Public Art Project, and now they've set up the Poe Square Public Artwork Public Forum blog to collect folks' thoughts on which design they'd like to see on the spot.
The three designs are very distinct from one another, each a different take on not only the man, but how we might go about monumentalizing him in a city he more or less despised that by most accounts didn't exactly hold him in highest regard either. But then Boston is not a city one loves, especially if one expects a city to love one back.
None of the designs is without its flaws, of course. One bears a shocking and likely unconscious allusion to Abu Ghraib which should probably disqualify it. Another resembles a giant cube of jellyfish (when the visual rendering of the design is as abstract as the statement of intent you know you're in trouble). Which leaves the probably too cluttered and rather whimsical third option as the likely crowd favorite. But we mustn't make the perfect the enemy of the good here.
We'll start by making the bad the enemy of the good: the Bonner/Stayner structure, "a small, freestanding triangular glass pavilion... comprised of an almost spectral structure of steel fins above a distorted glass façade." Described by the artists as a "Wonderkammer" ("curiosity shop" sounded too, er, English, I guess) and "cenotaph meets 'gift shop'" ("gift shop" in quotes, for unknown reasons — I mean, the structure would admittedly be a gift shop), the project presents some opportunities but mostly challenges, and represents a trend in design that will, I predict, soon become dated, if not hated. (MIT's Strata Center, not yet a decade old, is an embarrassment disguised as a curiosity wrapped in a leaky veneer, coated in a lawsuit. I mean, at this moment distorted facades are all the rage. But one day, in the not too distant future, Frank Gehry is going to die, bitches. Just sayin.)
Therefore, to Bonner/Stayner I give a big, fat NEVERMORE!
The other two finalists have very different vibes, one solemn and static, the other whimsical, frenetic.
I really liked the idea of the Hirsch/Olson design (aside from the plinth)...
Too soon?
... until someone pointed out the unfortunate resemblance of the sculpture's "shrouded figure" to the infamous "hooded figure" of Abu Ghraib.
And then there's the plinth.
If Boston is looking for a mini-landmark that will be beloved by tourists in passing duck boats (maybe they can even add a raven boat to their fleet), Stephanie Rocknak's bronze is just the thing:
Make Way for Poelings!
The speed-walking sculpture is probably too kinetic for the po-faced Poe, who was not exactly a bustling, bubbly figure. The intensity in his eyes here is more industrious purpose and steely determination (flinty hope, even, according to the artist) than the weary madness for which he is so well-known (and loved). And the bird, which (I'm sorry to have to point this out) is way too big for his briefcase, looks more eagley than raveny, truth told. Oh, and that clutter trail is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
You could call the sculpture "The Revenge of the Frogpondians". Even though he is speed-walking away from the Frog Pond here, this imagining of Poe definitely sprang out of it.
But, again, of the three finalists, this is the "Make Way for Poelings" of the lot. And even echoes the famous and much-loved "Ducklings" a block away in its linearity. And it's kid-friendly, too:
Although the Raven is designed to look rather foreboding, all of its sharp looking elements are people-friendly. The claws are turned inward and the feathers are left blunt and are curved back. Meanwhile, the beak is also blunt and is turned down.Like Poe, sort of. I mean, face-down. In a gutter. Ah, happy endings!
People-friendly Poe.
Evermore, baby. Evermore.
I checked out the three finalists (none of the local outlets that I could find had photos of the Bonner entry -- I had to Google her personally to find her computer-generated concept pictures. It would appear that some of her imagery is activated by people approaching the transparent construction, possibly referring to the hallucinatory element of some of Poe's work. Over-all, I wasn't carried away.
Anne Hirsch's plinth is indeed a problem. I had less difficulty with the two figures. I did not immediately pick up on the Abu Ghraib association, your comment did that for me, and if you saw it, others will also, although I still think it's powerful and apt for Poe and his demons.
I like the semi-surrealist raven sculpture by Ms Rocknak best. It has a manic energy and all the objects spilling out of the exploding valise work for me in terms of Poe's life and work. If nothing else, I predict it will be the popular favorite.
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Agreed.
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