It has been panned as one of the world's worst public art eyesores, but from Chicago's enormous Marilyn Monroe statue is a community service - protecting tourists from the rain.
The statue, which captures the iconic moment when the movie star bashfully held her dress down as a gust of wind billows the fabric around her was recently photographed as a safe haven for those looking to avoid a Chicago downpour.
The group is seen huddled around Monroe’s enviable legs and under her flowing dress as raindrops fall around the Windy City’s Pioneer Court.
'Forever Marilyn', by Seward Johnson, was erected in July near the city's Tribune Tower.
The
statue, under which passers-by can freely gaze up the screen siren's
skirt, recently ranked No. 1 on Virtual Tourist's top ten list of worst
public art.And the stainless steel and aluminium sculpture, which stands at 26 feet tall and weighs a whopping 34,000lbs, has raised more than a few eyebrows.
Not least because visitors to the plaza are at once confronted with Monroe's pert bottom in gleaming white panties and her perfect pins bedecked in white, open-toe kitten heels
Detractors have found so many things to criticize about this work that it's hard to know where to start: Its 26-foot size; its impropriety given that the movie to which it pays tribute - 1955's The Seven Year Itch - is set in New York; and its perceived crudeness given that viewers are able to look directly up her dress.
Abraham Ritchie wrote on Art Chicago Blog after the statue’s unveiling was a 'creepy schlock from a fifth-rate sculptor that blights a first-rate public art collection.'
But the Zeller Realty Group, which owns the plaza and now its statue, responded by defending the art work: '[Paul Zeller] likes to bring in things that cause a conversation,' said a spokesman from the company.
'They might be controversial, but he likes art that makes people think.'
In June, Monroe's ivory pleated Travilla dress went on auction, sold by Hollywood costume collector Debbie Reynolds - the winner paying a full $4.6million for the scene-stealer.
Whether Chicago likes the statue or not, it’s only scheduled to stand until 2012.
In June, Monroe's ivory pleated Travilla dress went on auction, sold by Hollywood costume collector Debbie Reynolds - the winner paying a full $4.6million for the scene-stealer.
Whether Chicago likes the statue or not, it’s only scheduled to stand until 2012.
source: http://dezenarch.blogspot.it/2012/08/marilyn-monroe-statue.html
