SIGHTS

Art with Mass Appeal

Nothing renders art more invisible than making it public.

by Dan Scott

Art disappears in the public sphere. A street sculpture, for example, becomes purely functional. You tie your shoelace against it, you meet friends beneath it, you take the left turn after it, but do you look at it? “Look at what?” you say, pissing up the side of Rebecca Horn’s beautiful stack of shanty buildings in Barceloneta. It‘s no small irony that people pay more attention to people on the Ramblas mimicking statues than to actual statues (which, paradox- fans, were originally made to eternally mimic people).
An Ajuntament workgroup (www.bcn.cat/artpublic) has recorded a total of 1,190 public art works in the city dating back to the middle ages, although some of the most prominent pieces are more recent. The contemporary story goes like this: before the Barcelona Olympics, the Ajuntament had a blank chequebook, the 1991 Art Now! catalogue, a blindfold and a pin. Five minutes later, close to 60 well- to un-known artists were contacted, including luminaries such as Roy Lichenstein. “What you got, Roy?”...“Ummmm, well, I had a 30 metre tall nightmare about my mother-in-law...ummm...let’s call it Barcelona's Head... how much did you say?”
But for every garish knock-off, there are some lovely treats that deserve more than your urine and a sticker advertising Nasty Mondays. Juan Munez, one of the handful of local artists who benefited from the art-push of the early 90s, created the haunting bronze figures on San Sebastian beach. Also impressive is Barcelona artist Francesc Torres' "Veneda Line," a mile long strip of steel that turns history into space and features contemporary 'fossils,' such as watches and calculaters, set in glass. It’s all related to the surrounding barrio, St. Marti. And let's not forget grafitti - the ultimate in democratic art. My personal favourite is the faded painting of a Western Saharan refugee camp on the roundabout in Horta. I've no idea who did it and it's not done in a street style, but it's a haunting reminder of Spain's colonial past in one of the most Catalan of barrios. Public art – look out!

SIGHTINGS

Abstracts from Perrolandia

by Diana Bagnoli