Public Art - Crystal Flights
Last night when I left the office, I noticed a couple of sculptures of airplanes had suddenly appeared on my way to the metro. There was one at the corner of 18th and Bell Street and another right outside the Crystal City metro station.
This morning, I had a couple of errands to run, including a stop at the post office, as well as a meeting at a building a couple of blocks from my office. There were more airplanes along Crystal Drive. I looked closely enough to discover that this is apparently part of a public art project called Crystal Flights. I haven't found anything yet to tell me where they all are, but there are a lot of them. There are at least 4 in the park on the other side of Crystal Drive, for example. I haven't walked around enough to find all of them since I was pretty tied up in meetings today. And, frankly, they aren't good enough to be worth finding.
I believe it was Chicago that started this whole trend with their Cows on Parade. Several cities have followed with various iconic sculptures - angels in Los Angeles, guitars in Phoenix, and pandas in D.C. are among the ones I've seen. (Actually, before there were pandas, there were party animals - both donkeys and elephants. At least that provided a cute name for the project.) There are often a couple of variant forms to the sculpture and local artists and organizations paint them.
The problem is that they are usually not starting with particularly good sculptures. And the decoration is, in general, not all that interesting. Of the planes I have seen so far, most are too cutesy, with lots of bright colors, reminiscent of the mobiles parents bought before they were told that infants can't see colors well anyway. The one by the metro has an Uncle Sam added on, sort of as a pilot, and isn't too bad. There's also one by Olsson's Books which is covered with silver tile that isn't too bad. But most of them are not worth a look.
It isn't entirely clear why airplanes. For those unfamiliar with Crystal City, it is an entirely soulless section of Arlington, Virginia. The major distinction of the area is that the buildings are connected by underground walkways, which is convenient in bad weather but also allows one to feel like a complete mole person. (At my office, we refer to the underground paths as "the gerbil trails.") Apartments and condos there are, however, fairly expensive since it is convenient. There are some decent shops (though no actual supermarket) and a few good restaurants. I suppose it is the nearest residential area to DCA. And I suppose that one can't really create sculptures of the most common animal I associate with Crystal City, namely the slow-moving clueless tourist. (There are also a lot of hotels of the ilk favored by arrangers of junior high class trips. It is no coincidence that the words "tourist" and "tortoise" sound similar.)
Good public art is possible, albeit uncommon. "The Awakening" is an example, although its relocation to National Harbor from Haine's Point is distressing. The Claes Oldenburg clothespin in Philadelphia is also a fine work. My favorite piece of public art in the giant hand with paper airplane sculpture outside the Green Line station in El Segundo, California, across from the old Hughes Aircraft plant. It's both witty and site relevant.
The Chicago cows have a lot to answer for.
This morning, I had a couple of errands to run, including a stop at the post office, as well as a meeting at a building a couple of blocks from my office. There were more airplanes along Crystal Drive. I looked closely enough to discover that this is apparently part of a public art project called Crystal Flights. I haven't found anything yet to tell me where they all are, but there are a lot of them. There are at least 4 in the park on the other side of Crystal Drive, for example. I haven't walked around enough to find all of them since I was pretty tied up in meetings today. And, frankly, they aren't good enough to be worth finding.
I believe it was Chicago that started this whole trend with their Cows on Parade. Several cities have followed with various iconic sculptures - angels in Los Angeles, guitars in Phoenix, and pandas in D.C. are among the ones I've seen. (Actually, before there were pandas, there were party animals - both donkeys and elephants. At least that provided a cute name for the project.) There are often a couple of variant forms to the sculpture and local artists and organizations paint them.
The problem is that they are usually not starting with particularly good sculptures. And the decoration is, in general, not all that interesting. Of the planes I have seen so far, most are too cutesy, with lots of bright colors, reminiscent of the mobiles parents bought before they were told that infants can't see colors well anyway. The one by the metro has an Uncle Sam added on, sort of as a pilot, and isn't too bad. There's also one by Olsson's Books which is covered with silver tile that isn't too bad. But most of them are not worth a look.
It isn't entirely clear why airplanes. For those unfamiliar with Crystal City, it is an entirely soulless section of Arlington, Virginia. The major distinction of the area is that the buildings are connected by underground walkways, which is convenient in bad weather but also allows one to feel like a complete mole person. (At my office, we refer to the underground paths as "the gerbil trails.") Apartments and condos there are, however, fairly expensive since it is convenient. There are some decent shops (though no actual supermarket) and a few good restaurants. I suppose it is the nearest residential area to DCA. And I suppose that one can't really create sculptures of the most common animal I associate with Crystal City, namely the slow-moving clueless tourist. (There are also a lot of hotels of the ilk favored by arrangers of junior high class trips. It is no coincidence that the words "tourist" and "tortoise" sound similar.)
Good public art is possible, albeit uncommon. "The Awakening" is an example, although its relocation to National Harbor from Haine's Point is distressing. The Claes Oldenburg clothespin in Philadelphia is also a fine work. My favorite piece of public art in the giant hand with paper airplane sculpture outside the Green Line station in El Segundo, California, across from the old Hughes Aircraft plant. It's both witty and site relevant.
The Chicago cows have a lot to answer for.