Time blogger Claire Suddath has some fun with angry old man Andy Rooney's scathing critique of public art from this Sunday's "60 Minutes." While decrying the multicolored livestock sculptures and bronze Mr. Potato Heads popping up on the streets of cities and towns across the country, Rooney takes a shot at an abstract sculpture in Downtown Memphis:
Rooney examines a modern art memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tenn. "I'm an admirer of everything Martin Luther King stood for," Rooney says, "but I don't think he would have stood for this." (Double zing!)
This is a video I recorded August 9, 2011 on the mall where this memorial is located.
The bronze sculpture situated at a the corner of Poplar and Main Street, is entitled "Ive been to the Mountain". I see many things when I look at it , possibly a symbolism of a mountain, maybe the protruding legs of a man, a rusty heap of junk erected in the very city where Dr. King was assassinated comes to mind, but some young urbanites see a skateboard ramp.
Dr. King stood for non-violence and justice, but how does it look to see people skateboarding up and down his memorial. In all honesty when I asked the young man if he knew what the statue stood for he did not; so I told him and it did not make a bit of difference. They just kept right on skating up and down that mountain.
The bronze sculpture situated at a the corner of Poplar and Main Street, is entitled "Ive been to the Mountain". I see many things when I look at it , possibly a symbolism of a mountain, maybe the protruding legs of a man, a rusty heap of junk erected in the very city where Dr. King was assassinated comes to mind, but some young urbanites see a skateboard ramp.
Dr. King stood for non-violence and justice, but how does it look to see people skateboarding up and down his memorial. In all honesty when I asked the young man if he knew what the statue stood for he did not; so I told him and it did not make a bit of difference. They just kept right on skating up and down that mountain.