They lost me at rivet seams and latex On Sat, Nov 28, 2020, 10:36 AM Chuck McCown via AF <[email protected]> wrote:
> Mysterious desert obelisk: Art or ‘glorified vandalism’? > > The BLM won’t be “hasty” in determining the future of the illegally > installed pillar, an official says, citing the joy it has brought to > people. > > Several years ago — likely sometime in 2016 — one or more artists carrying > well over 100 pounds of stainless steel hiked into a remote alcove in San > Juan County, expertly cut a hole into the sandstone with a rock saw and > erected a three-sided obelisk beneath a narrow pour-off. > > The sculpture was carefully placed away from roads and out of sight from > any > distant vantage point in an obscure canyon, which, in December 2016, would > become part of Bears Ears National Monument until President Donald Trump > shrank its boundaries. For four years it sat. If a few wandering hikers or > cowboys happened to stumble across it, they kept the discovery to > themselves. > > A nearly 10-foot-tall steel sculpture that was discovered in a remote > canyon > in San Juan County in mid-November has drawn attention from around the > world. > > That all changed last week when biologists doing a bighorn sheep survey > for > the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources spotted the shining structure from > a > helicopter and filmed the crew circling the perfectly plumb construction > tucked into its redrock alcove. The photos were posted online Monday by > the > Utah Department of Public Safety — complete with an extraterrestrial tease > — > and speculation about the object soon became a global internet sensation. > > The discovery has been covered in publications from the South China > Morning > Post to The New York Times to Al-Jazeera and has drawn comments from all > corners, including Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show.” Many noted the object’s > resemblance to the monolith in the famous opening scene of Stanley > Kubrick’s > “2001: A Space Odyssey.” > > “What could it mean? Is it aliens making first contact? Is it a > site-specific art installation that examines the dynamic tension between > man > and nature?” Colbert said in a recent opening monologue. “Or is it a > really > poorly installed stainless steel backsplash. Utah is the ultimate open > concept kitchen.” > > On Tuesday, a host from the Discovery Channel’s “Diesel Brothers” show > flew > a helicopter to the site in Lockhart Basin, speculating on camera that he > could be the first to reach the sculpture since the biologists. When he > landed, however, others had already beat him to it — some 30 people > throughout the day — who had arrived by ATV, e-bike, Jeep and dirt bike. > > On Wednesday, a similar-sized crowd congregated at the structure. Ryan > Quiggle and Elliott Evans, two students at Brigham Young University, drove > for a dozen hours to reach the obelisk and make it back to their graveyard > shift at the Missionary Training Center in Provo. “ It was definitely > aliens,” Quiggle joked, rapping on the stainless steel with his knuckles > to > produce a sound that indicated there was foam inside. > > The sculpture measures 9 feet, 7 inches from the custom-cut hole in the > rock > to its top. The three sides are just under 2 feet wide and joined with > rivets. A ribbon of silicon caulk runs around its base. > > “It looks like it could have been assembled by a single person,” said Brad > Zercoe, a 30-year-old engineer from San Jose, Calif., who was on vacation > in > the area when he saw the news about the sculpture and decided to go find > it. > “Each of the pieces could have been carried in separately.” > > Bureau of Land Management officials say the piece was illegally installed, > but they have no plans to remove it in the near future. > > “I can assure the public that we aren’t going to be hasty in our decision > about the future of the structure,” said BLM spokeswoman Kimberly Finch. > ”We > also are enjoying the conversations, the inspiration, the fun that people > are having with it. We completely encourage that. So we hope people will > continue to have fun with it and to be safe as far as accessing the site.” > > The agency is investigating how the obelisk got there. Ordinarily, any > moving of earth or placing fixtures on public land requires a review under > the National Environmental Policy Act. Last summer, someone illegally > erected a political flag over U.S. Highway 40, which the BLM took down > promptly, according to Finch. Even if the obelisk qualifies as art, the > BLM > doesn’t want to see similar installations elsewhere without proper > approval. > > “We don’t want people to be inspired to do this on their own,” Finch said. > “There’s a process. It has to be safe.” > > While some critics of the sculpture have called it “litter” and “glorified > vandalism,” multiple visitors Wednesday worried the obelisk itself would > be > marked up by graffiti. Others made too many bad alien jokes about being > probed. > > Eye of the beholder? > > Humor aside, however, historian Patricia Limerick believes the object is > art > that should be taken seriously. To her, it fits into Utah’s tradition of > land art that began with ancient Native American rock art and culminated > with Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” on the Great Salt Lake’s north shore. > > “Art doesn’t always have to be in the control of museums. You can do > things > that are art that are way, way beyond the boundaries of a gallery,” said > Limerick, who directs the University > > of Colorado’s Center of the American West. “That’s one of the things I > have > enjoyed about the rise of land art in the 1960s.” > > But how do you know when an object installed in nature is art? > > “Welcome to the question that the humanities have struggled with for > centuries,” Limerick said. To her, the apparent deliberateness of the > obelisk’s construction and placement on the landscape qualify it as a > piece > of art. > > The object is assembled from precision-milled stainless steel, but it > bears > no inscriptions or other identifying features, according to Lt. Nick > Street > of the Utah Department of Public Safety. > > “Somebody would have had to really do some planning,” he said, “and have > the > will and desire to carry all this stuff, along with some pretty precise > cutting equipment that they used to cut out the rock base.” > > The triangular hole cut in the rock perfectly matches the dimension of the > obelisk. > > “As sturdy as the thing is, I would guess that it would have to have at > least a foot and a half, if not more, of the monolith down inside of it,” > Street said. “The other thing is it’s perfectly plumbed. It’s exactly 90 > degrees to the surface and perfectly level on top.” > > These indicators are more in line with art than a mere stunt, according to > Limerick. > > “It’s not just something thrown together, accidental, or done in a > distracted moment. The way it’s embedded in the rock is the furthest thing > away from that,” she said. “There is really an enormously powerful > dialogue > between a person looking at it and thinking, ‘Which one of my fellow human > beings did this and what is it the person was thinking, feeling, dreaming, > aspiring, and what message are we receiving from this?’ That is a pretty > exciting trip to go on if you buy the ticket for that.” > > One theory gaining traction is that the obelisk is the work of the > sculptor > John McCracken or one of his students, who may have installed it after the > artist’s death in 2011. David Zwirner, a prominent New York City art > dealer > who represents McCracken, suspects the object is connected to the artist > who > lived in Santa Fe, N.M., at the end of his life. > > “The gallery is divided on this. I believe this is definitely by John,” > Zwirner said in a statement. “Who would have known that 2020 had yet > another > surprise for us? Just when we thought we had seen it all. Let’s go see it.” > > The California-born McCracken was famous for minimalist sculptures of > geometrical precision. After the release of Kubrick’s famous film, it was > widely though incorrectly assumed that McCracken designed the monolith > worshipped by apelike pre-humans in the opening scene, according to his > obituary. > > (Although the Utah sculpture has been most commonly called a “monolith” in > news coverage, Utah’s former state archaeologist Kevin Jones has pointed > out > that’s a misnomer; monoliths are cut from a single piece of stone.) If the > object’s discovery accomplishes anything, Limerick observed, at least it > provides a diversion from the Trump presidency, the pandemic and the > faltering economy. During times of global trouble, the obelisk is a > reminder > the world is still full of wonder. > > “Whoever the artist is, we are in that person’s debt for saying, ‘Think > about something else, folks. Why don’t you think about something else?’” > she > said. “This is really great that I turn a page [of the newspaper] and I’m > asked to think about something that has nothing to do with the usual stuff > we are going around in circles on.” > > ‘Bring Windex’ > > If it was harder to imagine the object beamed down by a UFO while standing > beside it, several visitors noted the care that went into its placement > and > construction: the precise alignment with the watercourse, the > aesthetically > pleasing contrast of metal and rock, and its hidden location that brings > the > piece into the realm of performance art. “It’s surreal to see it,” said JP > Baker, Zercoe’s friend. “I’m glad I got here before the T-shirt stand was > installed.” > > In just a few days, visitors had already left more than a few marks on the > sculpture. The top two rivets on one side were snapped off in an apparent > attempt to peer inside. > > Its surface was marked with fingerprint smears and a streak of blood, > possibly left by someone who cut themselves on the sharp metal edges while > trying to climb on top. > > “Bring Windex if you want to get a great photo,” advised Mark Trunzo, a > guide from a nearby town who approached the site Wednesday by ATV. > > Aside from who put the object in the desert, the big question is what will > the BLM decide to do with the sculpture, which was embedded illegally into > publicly owned land. The law and policies point toward its eventual > removal. > > Yet it can be seen standing in that remote alcove in a satellite image > dated > to October 2016, causing no known harm before it became an internet > fixation, so what would be the point of extracting it? > > While officials ponder how to proceed, they are cautioning people against > visiting the object out of concern they could get stranded in a remote > spot > while searching for it or could damage the land if they come in large > numbers. A tow truck was already in the area Wednesday. > > “This is not an improved site. There’s no restrooms, there’s no trail > signs. > It has the potential for people to get into trouble,” Finch said. “You > have > a situation where something’s gone internationally viral and then you have > a > large impact of people going out on a site that is not prepared for that > kind of visitation.” > > Limerick hopes the BLM allows it to remain to continue challenging the > public’s imagination. > > “This is refreshing in ways that art is supposed to be,” she said. “It’s > not > shouting, it’s not saying, ‘Look at me.’ It doesn’t seem to be bragging. > What I’m liking about it more and more and more is, this is historic. It > is > not just an event, a thing you take a picture and move on. It’s a dynamic > story in which we are all invited to participate.” > > Limerick said it reminds her of the rock towers stacked by anonymous > artists > in the desert, a practice federal land managers frown upon. But unlike the > rock stacks that can be scattered back on the ground, the obelisk is > drilled > into the landscape; removing it will leave a hole, both physically and > metaphorically. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Translate > toSpanishArabicDutchFrenchGermanGreekItalianJapaneseKoreanPortugueseRussian > > > > > > > > > > > > > o > > > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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