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Monumentality BY EVA SAINT DENIS

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Dream Big The world needs to have more fun Don t you ever feel like people take themselves too seriously Most buildings are the boring sameold same old Wouldn t you prefer to work inside of a seven story tall basket How can you not smile as you drive past a lucky strike frozen in time and big enough for a giant to be playing How about that feeling you get when you see a 60 foot tall rubber duckie and all of a sudden the whole lake becomes your bathtub This book is a small collection of some very large sculptures sculptures that change your mindset upon viewing them and encourage you to live a life filled with monumentality 1

The Magic Tap This logic defying sculpture is the work of Philippe Thill This particular piece is located in the Spanish city of Cadiz However Thill created several large water sculptures Thill s work is often characterized by surrealist themes The Magic Tap baffles and amazes spectators as they often wonder how the facet floats in the air Of course there is a support pipe situated in the fountain stream that holds up the facet as well as distributes water to it 2

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Rubber Duck This large floating duck sculpture is one in a series that was created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman The series was started in 2007 when inspiration struck Hofman upon viewing an advertisement from the popular yogurt company Yogho Yogho Although Rubber Duck has been displayed around the world each location has garnered a brand new duck which in turn have varied in size from their predecessors This picture is from the installation that ran in Seoul Korea from October 14 November 14 2014 and was measured to be 54 65 54 feet large 5

Spoonbridge and Cherry 6

e From 1985 1988 Oldenburg and van Bruggen created Spoonbridge and Cherry at the Walker Art Center s Minneapolis sculpture garden When the center first commissioned the pair to create a piece the formal flower gardens reminded Van Bruggen of Versailles This association drew her to think about the formal dining etiquette of the palace and thus draw a link to Oldenburg s fascination with spoons Oldenburg had created many drawings of large spoon sculptures and he even replaced the Chicago Navy Pier with a spoon in one of his drawings She then added a cherry to his spoon and the famous sculpture was born 7

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Flying Pins In 2000 van Bruggen and Oldenburg were commissioned by the Dutch city of Eindhoven to create an eye catching sculpture At the time Eindhoven was establishing itself as an important commercial center with a renowned contemporary art collection The artist duo chose to install their sculpture along the main boulevard of Kennedylaan at a location that was sandwiched by a bank a university campus and busy traffic The liveliness of the intersection inspired them to focus on some sort of game or sport with dynamic movement They decided on a bowling scene due to its dramatic climax and the amount of pieces involved 9

FORE Forever Marilyn is a 26 foot tall 34 000 pound stainless steel and aluminum sculpture that depicts one of Marilyn Monroe s most famous moments The sculpture shows Marilyn s character from the 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch as she battles against the hot air from a New York subway grate by trying to keep her dress from blowing up Forever Marilyn was created in 2011 by Seward Johnson It has been displayed in Chicago Palm Springs Hamilton New Jersey Stamford Connecticut and the Australian city of Bendigo It is currently in storage but will soon make a permanent home in Palm Springs A full size counterfeit was created and displayed in China only to show up later in a Landfill 10

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EXPRESS The Childhood Express is a12 foot tall interactive sculpture located in Spokane Washington The artist Ken Spiering was commissioned to create the sculpture by the Junior League of Spokane for the 1989 Centennial Celebration of Children The League then dedicated the artwork to Spokane s children as a reflection of the past created in the present to last into the future The sculpture is the iconic Radio Flyer red wagon that is reminiscent of so many childhoods The best part about the sculpture is that the handle doubles as a slide making it a memorable monument for both parents and children 13

The Longabe Basket Build The Longabe Basket Build Longaberge 14

berger ding berger ding The er Basket The Longaberger Basket Building is a seven story 180 000 square foot building in the shape of a basket In1997 Dave Longaberger commissioned NBBJ and Korda Nemeth Engineering to create an office building for his basket company in the shape of his best selling product the Medium Market Basket It cost 32 million dollars to build and served as the headquarters for the company for nearly two decades Although The Longaberger Company has relocated to a new office for financial reasons the basket still stands on State Route16 in Newark Ohio and has become a local landmark and tourist attraction 15

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tlecocks These massive birdies were created by the husband and wife team of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen They were installed in July 1994 at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City Missouri There are four sculptures in total three lie on one side of the museum and the fourth on the other This arrangement mimics an actual game of badminton where the building acts as the net They are made out of aluminum and fiberglass 17

How many of these monu The Childhood Express Spoonbridge and Cherry The Longaberger Basket Building Forever Marilyn Shuttlecocks Rubber Duck is not currentl 18

uments have you been to OUTLINE MAP EUROPE Flying Pins The Magic Tap ly on display anywhere 19