For me public sculpture simply denotes things I find in public that have lessons to teach me about my understanding of sculpture. Above is an image of a construction fence I saw in a development when I was in Mexico. This fence contains many of the tactics and ideas that draw me to sculpture as a discipline. One thing is the use of found and readily available materials to create the image that the maker was looking f0r. In this situation it is the image of a secure wall or baracade. While it is obvious that a pallete propped up with some bent rebar and a scrap of 4×4 won’t stop anyone from going down this road it is a solid image none the less. What I really responded to was the way this construction acknowledges the inability of the orange construction fence to provide enough of a baracade. There is something really beautiful and succesful about this arrangement that resonates with my sensibilities.
This is another one of my favorite types of public sculpture, also spotted on the streets of Los Cabos. It follows in the tradition of great process art of the sixties. This monumental structure is clearly created by dumping a pile of bricks and allowing them to fall where they may. The result is a really beautiful Robert Morris-esque temporary sculpture.
I love finding examples of public sculpture that incorporate light as a design element.
Finally this over turned steel and concrete basket is a great study of an object. It is such a monumental and permanent tribute to the simple basket or vessel form.