It happened recently in Culver City:
No creative person wants to see his work intentionally demeaned.
Presumably, he undertook his highly specialized task with industry and with seriousness.
Artists, both traditional and modern, always seek to air mail a specific, sometimes cloaked, message to the wider — less sophisticated? — world.
Practitioners of modern art seem to have more trouble telling a puzzled, if not enigmatic, public what they really mean more than other artists do.
Jedidiah Caesar, a former Culver City resident who is described as “an important young artist,” suffered a humiliating experience two weeks ago, on Jan. 23.
As part of City Hall’s subtle attempt to enhance the cultural ambiance of the community, a certain work of Mr. Caesar’s was placed on the sidewalk on Marcasel Avenue, just north of Washington Boulevard in west Culver City.
A neighbor noticed the piece, which he concluded was a blight on his street.
He telephoned City Hall. The Public Works Dept., responding efficiently, loaded the apparent piece of junk and hauled it away.
Oops. It was not junk. It was sculpture.
How would anyone know?
You, dear reader, be the judge. Seewww.culvercity.org/articles/articles.asp?id=345&sec=arts
It seems that young Mr. Caesar, a graduate of UCLA, is known for incorporating debris and found objects into his cast resin sculptures.
The work, labeled Gleaners Stone, is 7 1/2 feet long, 3 1/2 feet wide and 3 feet high.
Here is how it is characterized by someone smarter than a journalist:
“Weighing several thousand pounds, Gleaners Stone is assembled from resin, pigment and various found objects culled from the environment and the artist’s studio. This project attempts to insert the artist’s practice into the public domain while renegotiating histories of monumentality and iconicity in public art. The project relates directly to the newly modeled urban terrain of the neighborhood and is intended as a ‘sculptural intervention,’ achieving its full effectiveness by relying on social interaction and public engagement to activate the sculpture’s presence.”
Gleaners Stone is one of several works of art by Mr. Caesar included in the 2008 California Biennial.
Said curator Lauri Firstenberg, somewhat wryly, of Mr. Caesar’s piece:
"It's an issue of misperception of what the object is. The whole point is for people to see the art and interact with it."
Happily for all, except perhaps one neighbor, the misperception is over, and the tribute to modernity is back on Marcasel for all to ogle and, perhaps, admire.
