On the statue of the Kings by Hank Willis Thomas placed on Boston Common

[misssylviadrake]

Friends and Readers,

It's an imitation of a photo of King and his wife seen from the side where he has his arms around her shoulders. If you look at that statue from precisely the right angle you see the sculptor imitated that in an abstract way:he omitted everything but the arms and hands and shoulders of King and the part of the shoulder his

Comments

Plot thickens

[misssylviadrake]

This is the second time Thomas has used this image:

Apparently the sculptor did a smaller version of this elsewhere: https://jackshainman.com/exhibitions/hank-willis-thomas-2022

E.M.

Aesthetically unpleasing

[misssylviadrake]

So many people describe the sculpture as weird:

"Did you see the Thursday Washington post article on the Embrace. The writer has the same negative opinion. Other photos from different angles really illustrate how weird this sculpture is and not aesthetically pleasing."

My reply: "I may have grazed (my eyes) over the article but I did see on the Net an image of an earlier sculpture by this man which is very similar. I did loathe the recent statue of Mary Wollstonecraft; it made her into a sex trophy on top of a car. Everything she stood for if you took the trouble to read her was travestied. But it was in a contemporary style and much admired by the sculptor's colleagues."

An advantage if it's not understood

[misssylviadrake]

Rory:

"I saw what you wrote on the statue; if I may make a remark, you always want certainty. If you think about it, the statue of the hands is unlikely to cause dislike in the future, unlike many of the representations of Confederate warriors in USA"

Me in reply: yes I do very badly with liminality. Travel is uncertain. I am actually a literal reader.