There are real people on the waterfront in Key West...
...and there are statues...
...ans there are paintings of statues:
And, by extension there is someone photographing the painter statue of the statues at the Customs House on Front Street.
These are the life sized, and more than life sized artwork of one Seward Johnson, the grandson of the Johnson of talcum powder fame. What you think of his artwork depends on your perspective. In general the people I rub shoulders with on the streets of Key West seem to like them well enough but art critics aren't so gentle. Johnson suffers from a problem wealthy heirs often seem to get tangled up in, which is how to be accepted as a
bona fide artist when you are very far from starving. He has had his work on display around Key West for some time and many of his statues are on display and one of the less commercial and more interesting museums around town.
It was actually built as a US Customs House, hence the snow friendly design of the roof, and fell into disrepair along with much of downtown in the mid 20th century. It has been restored and revived and makes a very nice history museum. I haven't been back in a while since I took myself there in 2008.
http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2008/04/art-and-history.html
The large statue in front of the Museum is no longer the American Gothic Farmer/Daughter combo but the statues have multiplied. Johnson has a rather dull website of his own but the Wikipedia entry against his name is rather more arresting with more details of the artist's life than he might want to discuss .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seward_Johnson_II However controversy follows him even to Key West. He was noted for his family groupings set around the Southernmost Point which irritated a good few people who wanted the monument unencumbered. Enough protested such that they were banished and have re-surfaced to greet arrivals at the Key West (International) Airport.
That was a while back and Key West and Johnson seem to have kissed and made up as his name is never much mentioned around town these days.
But his statues remain to delight visitors. Who may very well be simply having fun in between their other jobs as art critics for all I know.
...and there are statues...
It was actually built as a US Customs House, hence the snow friendly design of the roof, and fell into disrepair along with much of downtown in the mid 20th century. It has been restored and revived and makes a very nice history museum. I haven't been back in a while since I took myself there in 2008. http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2008/04/art-and-history.html
That was a while back and Key West and Johnson seem to have kissed and made up as his name is never much mentioned around town these days.
But his statues remain to delight visitors. Who may very well be simply having fun in between their other jobs as art critics for all I know.
5 comments:
Errr. Not too appealing from what I see here. I've been in the customs house and they have a wonderful quilt depicting the island, if I'm not mistaken. Never cared for that large statue (ahem) at the steps.
A few of his statues have been rotating through San Diego over the past few years down by USS Midway floating museum.
Turnip: Art is supposed to provoke (unless you are a Republican then it is supposed to soothe).
Rob: do the burghers of san Diego protest?
Not really. The statues are down in the tourist district of Seaport Village. Suprisingly, most San Diegans are pretty open to public art, where ever it may be.
The one exception is the "Cardiff Kook" (google it for pictures), which is a statue of a young man surfing that was meant to embody the the surfing heritage and culture of the city of Carlsbad in North County. The design was widely panned by the public but the city went ahead with the project anyway.
The locals have now taken to dressing it up on a weekly basis to mock it. Last week, it was dressed up as Osama bin Laden, complete with toy AK-47 and gunshot to the head. I myself, find the modifications humorous.
Guerrilla Art is the best of all. Nothing quite so daring rears it's head in Key west. secrets are hard to keep in this town!
I knew the woman who once dressed the surfer statue in Santa Cruz in a bra and grass skirt. Caused quite a stir in a town devoted to surfing. She kept her secret well.
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