In front of the Halifax North End Memorial Library there is this impressive statue but it is in such repair that it looks horrible. DID someone already bitch about this because I am sure it does nothing to uplift anyones spirits. It is all beat up and rusted…or is it art and I am missing the point? I looked up the website and there is this picture of what it used to look like and it is a big difference. Someone must not have the money to fix it I guess or they do not WANT to afford to fix it. Why cant the city just fix it. I am sure someone would like the work.
—Fix It
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.
The artwork was meant to rust. There’s nothing wrong with it.
You really missed the point Smee thinks. But if you really feel that strongly, go get a wire brush and fix it!
I think it looks cool…
Right Arm Bastard Fish, rust is a beautiful medium to work with. I love it in architecture and bridges and such, it’s really underutilized. So much potential waiting to be tapped.
It was meant to rust, but after a certain period of time, the rust will drop off revealing a very nice patina. It was designed that way. Patience, dear, it’ll look good eventually.
In the meantime, we have to look at a nasty statue that streaks rust everywhere when it rains.
I think we have a wrong perception of beauty in today’s society. Everything must be clean, bright, positive. Lawns must be mowed, hair must be cut, faces must be shaved. But I’ll tell you the real beauty in things are those that aren’t created on idealistic or conventional concepts of beauty. It’s when something stands out, has a sense of confidence, a presence of sombre, or a willingness to acknowledge that the world we live in isn’t perfect that makes it beautiful. – Not idealistic representations of a false world.
/ Pretentious art rant…
I agree with Bastard…some people think decay has its own beauty. All the better if when the rust drops off it leaves a nice patina, which is such a cool idea.
The Japanese even have a specific word (wabi-sabi) for an aesthetic which is accepting of impermanence. Of course rust isn’t for everyone, but not everyone agrees that it’s ugly.
Well said Bastard Fish!
Wabi-sabi sounds very much like wasabi, probably translates from “spice of life” and “rough-n-ready” or along those lines.
As I read Fish & Rat, I couldn’t help thinking about how beautiful to me those portraits you see in National Geographic or even early stuff by Yousuf Karsh, or the early Native Americans portraits where these people are weathered, striking examples of their people and culture. These are not beautiful persons per se but they hold pure beauty for their trueness, accuracy, realism, honesty, etc. I love that stuff!
i think it adds character to the nearby uniacke square
i really like that sculpture in front of the Gottingen St library, especially the symbolism of reaching out a hand to others when they need help
and as others here have pointed out, the oxidation is intentional, the artwork was designed to look that way… over time.
i think the layer of orange-brown rust and greenish copper contrast each other nicely, and allow the sculpture to stand out.
can’t please everyone though, some people, like the OP, just have this obsessive *need* to make sure everything around them is looking shiny & new.
Well I like rust things too but I think one of the people is broken off. You can’t read the words and I would love to see what it says on it. But like I said I might have missed the point which is why I brought it up. I like the rust don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the medium and metal. I can see it is made of copper ecteect…but I do think one of the people is decapitated and I am not sure if that was planned by the artist. Or was it? Like really there is a person on top and he is giving a hand to help raise someone up but the statue that is giving the hand seems to been chopped off…from what I saw in the picture to what is there now it looks vandalized? Plus there is this other figure on the actual roof of the library and I thought it was the other part to the statue but maybe it is just another instalation? It isn’t so much about the rust it is that the statues are broken. I am just asking and if it is broken then I am bitching.
OK then……….as you were bitch…….carry on.
vida, take a brief moment to listen to yourself…
you’re yammering on some cock-eyed nonsense about rusted metal, vandals, severed hands and decapitated statues… yadayadayada
when i look at the sculpture, i don’t SEE any of what you’re describing… i simply enjoy it – for what it is. i don’t even know what the piece is called, and i don’t care, i just LIKE it… it makes me feel good.
next time you’re there, take a moment to BREEEATHE… then OPEN your eyes
btw, vida, after the copper has oxidized, the green layer (that you call rust) protects the underlying metal from further oxidation. not sure about the steel though… is there a metallurgist in the house??
anyway, sweetie, that’s what metals do – they rust (ok not all, but most do)
i’m pretty sure the artist who created the piece didn’t suddenly wake-up one day and go, “holy shit, my art! it’s made of METAL… omg, it’s gonna RUST!”
the artwork AGES, as we all do, which makes me like it even more.
Fuck have some patience, things take time. That’s the problem these days, everyone wants it yesterday.
Yeah I checked again. It is broken. The guy on the top is chopped in half.
Interesting.
While I enjoyed that statue when it was first erected I became less enchanted with the predictability of yet another project in the projects that had an urgent ego in the moment that satisfied some urgent social point and as with everything else, was left to be unattended and neglected….so predictable…
While the message is profound: the visual of the hand leaning down to offer assistance to someone trying to climb up and out….it became less romantic with that rust hiding/breaking the artwork…..is it deliberate or just another ruse… a temporary moment of humanity followed by its evil cuz ….who cares….
Sadly a great piece is not being appreciated in its fullest and that is always a shame, in this case…a sham?
Speaking of rusting metal, or oxidization as it really is………………do you know which metal (alloy) oxidizes the fastest?
Tick, tock,
tick, tock,
Times-up……..the answer is stainless steel, weird eh……it oxidizes immediately and the “rust”, the oxidation film, is so strong it chokes the oxygen off and stops the process just as fast………….the film is not even visible and all you see is the stainless steel.
A cool metallurgic fact.
Here is the 2007 HRM press release re. the statue:
http://www.halifax.ca/mediaroom/pressrelea…
And this link will hopefully take you to a small pic of the library’s front yard:
http://www.halifax.ca/cah/images/clip_imag…
Speaking of statues/sculptures, what the fuck happened to that really basic metal structure on Chebucto?
Dr F, you mean the plane that represents the airport that was there? If you do, it will be back shortly, they are refurbishing or doing some sort of maintenance on it.
Yeah, that’s the one. They had it all torn up a couple of weeks ago, and the re-poured the base.
I wanted to say I stand corrected. It isn’t broken. I just wasn’t talking the complete walk around to see…anyways. I really like what is says all over it! Sorry if I jumped the gun and offended anyone. It really is quite brillant and I hope to be around to see what happens with the rust like someone said…a patina? I get it now. GOod bye.
What? What? Vida? What? Graciously acknowledging a mistake, standing corrected with dignity, and not trying to prolong a pointless argument?? What?
We don’t take kindly to that sort of thing ’round here! You got it?
LOL Vida, it still offends me…I loved it when it first when up and the rust, whether intentional or not, stops it from being appreciated..This is like saying ‘do not mind my son’s braces when he gets them off in 4 years he will be handsome’ ..
What about NOW…..
While I love the patina look…it is the inability to appreciate it now that bothers me because this community needs to see improvements yesterday not in the slow birth of patina time. I read only that the metal was chosen to slow the rust process down, I have not really heard anything about patina being the desired and intended end result. Anyone got a link?