Artwork that's no work

The outdoor sculptures on the Navy Pier Walk are accessible and fun -- and no one will yell at you for climbing on them.

June 17, 2005|By Doug George, Tribune staff writer

If you think art's boring, if the whole "you're not supposed to get it" thing that modern art seems to exude frankly gives you a headache, then Navy Pier has an art show for you.

"Navy Pier Walk 2005" is an outdoor sculpture exhibit on the front lawn of the pier through Oct. 31, consisting of nine works from local and international artists. (That word "works" just made you roll your eyes, didn't it?) It's part of an annual Pier Walk show put on by the non-profit group 3-D Chicago that in past years has put on exhibits that included giant shoes and a Trojan piggybank. The show is on the smaller side this year but no less fun for it.

FOR THE RECORD - This story contains corrected material, published June 21, 2005.

Fun is the whole point, says curator Peter Schjeldahl, an art critic from New Yorker magazine, reprising his 2004 role and selecting the pieces that went in.

His biggest criterion was that the sculptures be fun to look at. (Another important requirement is that the sculptures be able to withstand high winds.)

"There's no secret agenda," Schjeldahl says. "Does art need to `improve' people? No, I don't think it does."
Has he succeeded? No one is a more qualified judge than you.

There's no particular order in which to do the walk, and the discreet blue signs with titles and the name of the artist can be a little hard to locate. We've created a tourist map of the Pier Walk, including (when available) the official artist statement behind each piece and our own thoughts.

FORKS, CHEESE, HANGERS
Jim Benedict (2005, Iowa). Galvanized steel shapes of the letters "F," "C," "H," juxtaposed with a big fork, a piece of cheese and clothes hangers.
STATEMENT: "Blunt collection of familiar and elementary objects. Collectively these objects form a whimsical train that contradicts the
inherent industrial qualities of galvanized steel."
OTT: Fun and grabs your attention. It makes you wonder why forks, why cheese, why hangers, though--and the answer is no reason.

SHAPE SHIFTERS II
Coral Lambert (2005, Louisiana). Cast aluminum and iron, forming two "shells" that open to reveal a red ball.
STATEMENT: "Central to my work is the exploration of the phenomenal and metaphysical presence of objects. My work investigates these dualities, such as the perceived ethereal in the physical and how it can be expressed through sculpture."
ON THE TOWN: Huh? The most "arty" piece in the bunch.

MALEDUCATI (the name of this artwork as published has been corrected in this text)
Ralph Provisero (2004, Florida).
A work in steel, maple and chewing gum.
STATEMENT: "Composed of scarred and battered wooden shop tables from my former junior high school. The subject of education, poor behavior and all its adjuncts are addressed."
OTT: One of our favorites. The authentic tables used in the sculpture seem infused with 1,000 stories, not to mention pieces of chewing gum. And their arrangement at odd angles in the air reduces their large size to something almost weightless.

MANDATORY DOGS
Ben Woitena (2005, Texas)
Painted steel frames form a picture with dogs in it.
STATEMENT: "My purpose lies between the structural concerns of sculpture, and the visual properties of drawing and painting thereby creating a third essence.
OTT: Took us a while to see the big "dog" in the overall frame and we puzzled about the style. Is it Southwestern? Asian? "The show needed this there," Schjeldahl says. "It's so pictorial." People know when they see it that they're looking at it from the front.

RECEPTOR
Tamsie Ringler (2004, Oregon). Concrete cast into an 11-ton cone, using a sawdust hopper and agricultural drain tile.
STATEMENT: "Perhaps the first time I remember truly seeing something was when I looked into an iris. It was so beautiful, I wanted to live inside it. " The pattern in the concrete suggests the flower, as well as mimics the anatomical part of the human eye" In sculpture, vision is so important."
OTT: A slam-dunk, the crowd favorite. Everyone who passes by jumps inside the cone or shouts through its mouthpiece.

55 x 2
Kay Rosen (2005, Indiana) Letters painted on the concrete sidewalk and arranged like Scrabble pieces.
STATEMENT: None
OTT: You immediately begin trying to form words, like a game. The painted words on the "board" are all palindromes, the same spelled backward and forward. It's fun, it's thoughtful and you get to walk on it, Schjeldahl says.

MERCURY
Franz West (2004, Austria). Two oversized, tubular pieces of lacquered aluminum and stainless steel.
STATEMENT: None
ON THE TOWN: Fun and goofy looking, but these things are supposed to be the stars of the show and we just weren't that captivated. Why two, for example, and why are they separated? Show organizer Joseph Tabet gets at their appeal with a story from the day they were installed: A family with a toddler was among the first to see them, he says, and the little boy ambled right up to one of them, locking it in an embrace and turning back to his parents. "His face lit up," Tabet says. "He was saying, `I get this. This is mine.'"

PILLOW
Zoran Mojsilov (2005, Minnesota). Granite boulder carved to fit in the clinches of steel wrappers.
STATEMENT: "A cross between the animate and inanimate. It juggles mass and volume as if it were just fluffed up."
OTT: Mesmerizing and difficult to pry your eyes from once you begin to look. Schjeldahl says he likes "Pillow" because "it makes something hard look like something soft."

FOR THE RECORD - This story contains corrected material, published June 21, 2005.

UNTITLED

Ulrich Ruckriem (2003, Germany). Four massive rows of pink Rosa Porinjo granite, cut from a single stone and arranged like benches on the grass.
STATEMENT: "My basic principle is: I start from an idea and from the material. It is not fixed which of the two comes in the first place. For me, sculpture begins before design."
OTT: Gets our award for "Easiest to forget It's Art." The facing benches make a nice place to sit. From a distance it looks like a thing, Schjeldahl observes, and when you come over you find out it's a place. You enter this quiet place and the rest of the city gets shut out. We like it.
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VISITING NAVY PIER
For more information about "Navy Pier Walk 2005," call 312-595-5019 or visit www.pierwalk.com. The organization plans to have regular walking tours of the site during the summer. The pier is located at 600 E. Grand Ave. Hours are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday. Admission is free.
By car: Take Lake Shore Drive to the Grand Avenue exit from the north or the Illinois
Street exit from the south. Follow signs to the on-site parking. Rates are hourly beginning at $14, or a flat rate of $22 on weekends.
From downtown: A free Navy Pier trolley provides transportation from remote parking lots and State Street.
By the CTA: Several bus routes serve Navy Pier, including the No. 29 (State Street), the No. 65 (Grand Avenue), and the No. 56 (Milwaukee Avenue).