Works of Public Art and Taxpayer Costs

[Alan V]

I enjoy the fine arts, but typically don't care for works which try to impress viewers by their size.  If they wouldn't impress us as smaller objects, then they likely won't stand the test of time.

Yeah, THIS would have been so much better had it been small enough to hang on a bathroom wall.  And everyone complains that the Statue of Liberty and Mt. Rushmore are far too large and would have worked better as sculptures in a room in a museum.

The Niagra painting by Church, the Statue of Liberty, and Mt. Rushmore would all work just as well as postcards.  In fact, I assume they have made very popular postcards.  I very much doubt the same could be said for the Lindy Lee sculpture.

While size adds a dimension, it does not replace the need for quality concepts.

[Fireball]

My youngest brother used to work for a company that made pieces for some artist. They are solid stainless steel and weigh, of course, many tons. The amount of work required to weld the pieces together and polish the result is extensive, so quite a high price tag.

Any chance you could ask your brother what a typical cost for those creations would cost today?

It might give us some perspective as to what high sculpture art costs…and I don’t think it’s 14 Mil.

I'll check and see, but as a w.a.g. they would be high 100ks to low millions. They took months to manufacture, with several techs working on them. And then there is the cost of the metal, as it is solid stainless steel.

[pattylt]

Any chance you could ask your brother what a typical cost for those creations would cost today?

It might give us some perspective as to what high sculpture art costs…and I don’t think it’s 14 Mil.

I'll check and see, but as a w.a.g. they would be high 100ks to low millions. They took months to manufacture, with several techs working on them. And then there is the cost of the metal, as it is solid stainless steel.

Thanks and yes, I can imagine a large stainless steel sculpture could cost over a million, maybe even two mil. I can’t imagine a cost approaching 14 million.

[Rhythmcs]

I can. 14 million is cabbage money. As in, that's (less than) what it would cost to get into growing cabbages at a rate that nabbed you more income than managing a mcdonalds.