If public art is by design supposed to trigger debate, then a proposed Brunswick sculpture has accomplished its purpose.
Social media is being flooded with critics of a public-art “installation” in Brunswick slated to mark the location of the old Frank J. Wood Bridge.
The “Bridge Remembrance Project,” will use steel beams salvaged from Wood bridge since it was replaced with a new span across the Androscoggin River between Brunswick and Topsham.
Brunswick Public Art called for artists to submit their ideas for a new $300,000 privately-funded sculpture.
Laura Haddad, a Bowdoin College grad, won the design contest. But it may be a pyrrhic victory.
“Gumby cartoon blow ups would be cheaper, look about the same and would wave like the ones at car dealerships,” critic Andre Cocquyt of Portland posted on Facebook.
“Tf is that?” Facebooker Pat Rick when he saw the design schematic.
The sculpture shows arched steel beams rising to the sky, but Haddad’s critics clearly don’t appreciate a good curve.
As for winning over her critics, Haddad will cross that bridge when she gets to it – the sculpture isn’t expected to be up until next year at the earliest.
Until then, Haddad apparently has a bridge to sell them.
Maine Bridge Sculpture From Old Steel Beams Isn’t Passing Muster With Outraged Art Critics
By Ted Cohen
