J. Massey Rhind

J. Massey Rhind fountain in Albany, NY...

I have to credit Paul DiPasquale, with his Arthur Ashe statue and Neptune statue, for getting me hooked on noticing how wondrous and bizarre public figure sculpture can be.

Gorgeous plaque reads: This Fountain Was Erected By Henry L. King, In Memory Of His Father, Rufus H. King, 1893. J. Massey Rhind, Sculptor.

I ran a 5K in this park on Friday... my time was 24:01, but my sister-in-law beat me by a whole minute.

Uncle Sam

This is the back of a sculpture in Troy, NY. Didn't see any info about who the artist might be, so I'm attributing it to Frank Gehry.

Two plaques at the front of the statue list the name of every individual, club, business, and city official who helped to get the piece made... did I just miss the name of the artist? I definitely looked for it. Maybe the artist relinquished authorship, or maybe the donors are the real artists. Ha ha, I don't think so.


This is the front, it's Uncle Sam! He's all silver metal and facets... kind of like an X-Man, the metal one or the frozen one, or maybe Magneto.





I like this view with the swooshing faceted Gehry cape, over the brickpile, and his top hat.

This is the SECOND strange and wonderful statue I've seen in two weeks; the first was Clyde Du Vernet Hunt's Abraham Lincoln statue, in Bennington VT. That one is probably weirder.

Clyde Du Vernet Hunt

Clyde Du Vernet Hunt's strange statue outside the Bennington Museum. Abraham Lincoln considering naked woman and naked boy.


These pictures with the snow are the best... makes it even weirder.

HOT.

Salvador Dali's Monument Avenue Statue that Was Never Made

This is a drawing of the statue that Salvador Dali proposed for Monument Avenue. It's a monument to a nurse, Sally Louisa Tompkins... in Dali's proposal she is portrayed as slaying a dragon in a bowl of spaghetti, atop a giant finger.

Maybe it isn't spaghetti, I don't know, it looks like it might be spaghetti. Does anybody know of any other sketches or models? I'm not sure if this sketch is by Dali, or an assistant.

UPDATE!!: it ISN'T spaghehtti, she is standing in a petri dish filled with disease! It would have been made of ALUMINUM!!!

Here is a link to Larry Hall's article on Dali and Richmond.
Here is a link to a Style Weekly article on Roland Reynolds, Salvador Dali, and Sally Louisa Tompkins.

Eric Fischl's Arthur Ashe Statue VS. Paul DiPasquale's Arthur Ashe Statue

Eric Fischl's Arthur Ashe Statue. Yes, he is naked, heavily muscled, and about to swing an invisible tennis racket.

VS.

Arthur Ashe, originally uploaded by answermyclone.

Paul DiPasquale's Arthur Ashe Statue.

NO CONTEST!!!

Paul DiPasquale

Paul DiPasquale's Neptune, installed at Virginia Beach. This thing is awesome.. look at how Neptune is palming that turtle! That turtle is like, "Uh oh, I am about to get DUNKED".

Some interesting comments left on that last post on Paul DiPasquale. Bill Gusky said it reminded him of Ray Harryhausen flicks from the '60's... Beq mentioned Salvador Dali, probably in reference to his Dream of Venus.

I am still impressed thinking about how he got the Arthur Ashe statue up. What would DiPasquale do here? Neptune kind of reminds me of Puppy.

Paul DiPasquale

Paul DiPasquale's Neptune, one of the pieces included in the second annual Richmond Outdoor Sculpture exhibition. There is something weird about Paul DiPasquale, he has a knack (intentional?) for making conservative, odd sculptures that get installed at sites that make them seem even more bizarre and subversive. Why is there a sculpture of Neptune, the God of the Sea, on a loading ramp in Shockoe Bottom? We are not near the ocean... so strange.

DiPasquale made the Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue. Monument Avenue is a broad street with a wide park-like median dotted with huge equestrian statues of Civil War heroes like J.E.B. Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and Robert E. Lee. The last lonely statue on Monument is this one of Arthur Ashe. Look at that freaky thing. It looks like they are in a bird's nest - the children want the book like it is a worm and Ashe is going to whack them with his tennis racket. Plus it looks like it is made of stale dusty chocolate, here is a better shot closer to the actual color. Why are the children standing in a hole?

My assumption was that the Ashe statue was something that the city had wanted, and that DiPasquale was one of a number of artists who submitted proposals, but in fact it appears that the entire project was initiated by DiPasquale.

Two years ago - less than one week from the opening date of this year's sculpture exhibition -Richmond was flooded by Hurricane Gaston, with Shockoe Bottom hardest hit. Weather reports had called for some rain, but the storm that arrived was totally unexpected; I think five people were killed in Shockoe Bottom. Seeing Neptune in Shockoe Bottom now is so freaking scary and weird!! A reminder that powerful forces or events can suddenly appear and just kick the shit out of you. This statue is like a memorial to the storm, an offering of respect to appease the storm god.

Reminders were everywhere -


This is a jellyfish or maybe an octopus, bowing to Neptune from across the street.


Starfish and sand-dollars and barnacles...


Seaweed.