Ever tell yourself, “Okay…that’s enuff.”?
So Dubuffet’s sculpture, which has occupied the open corner of Clark and Randolph between Helmut Jahn’s former State of Illinois bldg. and the colonnaded city hall is to be taken to NYC and then find permanent residency with the Art Institute of Chicago. Not sure where that actual location is to be. Personally, if it must be moved, I’d prefer if it could be located in the midst of the Laurie garden south of the Pritzker Pavilion just across Monroe north of the Renzo Piano addition of the AIC. The 29’ tall sculpture fondly known to its detractors as ‘Snoopy in a blender’, would rise majestically, perhaps menacingly, from the echinacea and prairie plantings whereas it’s scale is now somewhat dwarfed between city hall and Jahn’s soon to be Google bldg.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved the location on the triangle of public access to the SOI bldg which had a stream of commuters passing by it during the rush hours in and out of the north Loop. And, I like that bookended as it has been between the edifices of state and local government, by the theater district, and in the realm of the financial district, it – along with its massive siblings of Art, those being the Picasso, Calder, Oldenburg, Miro, Kapoor’s Cloudgate, Crown Fountain, and the murals by Roger Brown and Chagall was a clear sign of the role the arts have played in Chicago’s identity and commitment to same, as well as the important impact the arts have on the regional economy.
The Dubuffet belongs in the public realm. Under natural light. Viewable from a huge range of vantage points. Accessible, for free, by the public 24/7/365. You paid for it.
Drawn on site with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens on watercolor paper.
