"Bear Eats Man" update. [I gotta get outta here.]

But before I go, I ask you, Dear Reader, what do you think is going on here?  At least, the Rubin Foundation's $300G's is being spent wisely on fencing, no?

Tempus fugit: a visit to "Civic Virtue", one year after its removal from Queens Borough Hall to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

One year ago, December 15, 2012, the statue "Civic Virtue" was removed from its decades long home next to the Queens Borough Hall.  It was transported to the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  You can see photos and the exclusive copyrighted video I made here.  Today, a year later,December 15, 2013, I visited the statue in its new home and bring you the following photos:

Statue clearly shows the decades of neglect standing next to Queens Borough Hall.



Under the watchful gaze of "Civic Virtue" in the far-off distance, last night's snow fall blankets the cemetery graves.



The triangular intersection has been landscaped and the new base has been completed.



A serene, placid scene extends beyond the statue.  I might even rest my bones there.  How 'bout you?



As the old saw states: Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  And the Old Boy sparkles.

Even those controversial ladies enjoy those new squeaky-clean birthday suits.



A highly informative sign at the foot of the statue explains the history and controversy that has surrounded "Civic Virtue" for almost 100 years.  The next two images are the sign's explanatory copy.  (Click each image to enlarge the wording.)





Upper right photo shows "Civic Virtue" in Manhattan.  The bottom right, in Queens.  Now it's Brooklyn's turn to provide the hospitality.  Hospitality that was missing in its previous abode.  This fellow and the ladies sure gets around.  Maybe one for the Guiness Book of Records? - The World's Most Travelled Statue?  Anyplace next on the itinerary?



A blast from the past: my visit of September 24.  These two photos show the cemetery workers preparing the new base and grassy landscaping.  A meticulously dedicated endeavor to making the statue look presentable.  A far cry from what it experienced in the decades of neglect on Queens Boulevard.

Left:  covered with grit and grime outside of the Queens Borough Hall (before) / Right: cared for and cleaned in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery (after)

 



  

    



 




 










 


 



 

































Is this gauche or what?



Woodside warmly welcomes visitors to the intersection of Broadway and 58th Street where...




...on Saturday, September 28...



...19 year old Luis Bravo was killed by a ...



...hit and run driver who has eluded capture to this day.






A beautiful welcoming sign has subsequently been erected to commemorate this event.

 

Hello Philanthropists Shelley & Donald Rubin - of Rubin Museum of Art Fame! (An open letter for public view.)

Hello Mrs. and Mr. Rubin! It has come to my attention that in October you were featured and photographed in the New York Times at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens. However, nowhere in that photograph do we see the presence of the Socrates' so-called artwork "Bear Eats Man" - a sculpture that shows a bear engaging in bestiality with a male human figure. For your information, it is off to the left in your photo. Did you know that it was there? If so, were you embarassed to be seen with it? Do you approve of its appearance on NYC parkland?

In any event, the New York Times article mentions that your foundation has donated $300,000 to the Socrates Sculpture Park. Mrs. and Mr. Rubin, will these monies be spent on future installations depicting such pornographic activity? For your information, this issue of the "sculpture's" appropriateness in a public venue has recently been explored on two postings of the widely-read and highly-influential Queens Crap blog site which you can read here and here.

Mrs. and Mr. Rubin, your comments on this controversial matter would be welcomed by myself and the readers. The favor of your reply would be appreciated.

Sincerely Yours,
GeorgetheAtheist

Passing the Buck at Socrates. Anything goes.



Who's in charge here?  The NYC Department of Parks abjures its role in overseeing the content of works of "art" appearing in the public realm:  "NYC Parks is not responsible for - nor forms opinions of - the artistic content of the installations . . ."  Just who's "turf" is this?  A nebulous "artists' coalition" or the city taxpayers?

 


A magnifying glass is needed to even notice the "artists' coalition'' alert to those offended by public pornography.



Reading glasses may be required to further investigate the warning depicted on the easily-overlooked miniscule "alert".




Seems to me, if it walks like a NYC Parks Department duck...

 


...talks like a NYC Parks Department duck...

 


...it must be a duck - a NYC Parks Department duck.  No?

 
I


In the interim, since my last posting, vandalism has been visited thereon.



A disgusting display of "art" compounded by a disgusting display of utilitarian purpose.



Bestiality Sanctioned at Queens Park. An open letter to the New York City Parks Commissioner Veronica White.

Dear Ms White:  I recently discovered this work of "art" at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City.  Please see photos below.  I was curious as to how the Parks Department of which you are the Commissioner ever approved of the emplacement of such an item?   I am certain many citizens would find and have found in it moral offense in its visual obscenity.  Do you? 




  
Surely you are aware that this so-called "sculpture" is situated on parkland that is tax-payer supported?  Was there ever a public hearing held on the appropriateness of this so-called "sculpture"? 





 According to the "artist" Thordis Adalsteinsdottir in her statement found on the website of the Socrates Sculpture Park the so-called "work" entitled "Bear Eats Man" represents a "confrontation between man and nature".  Now really, Ms White, do these photos show you, a highly-educated individual - a graduate of Harvard Law School, a bear eating a man?  And just where is that "confrontation"?  It appears to me that the bear has the upper hand here.

Ms White, do you, that highly-educated individual - and graduate of Harvard Law School -  truly believe this cock and bull copy that Ms Adalsteinsdottir has written for the Socrates Sculpture Park:

"...this narrative depicts a moment of shock and death."  What?  Death by tumescence?

"The wild bear looms over man while sinking his teeth into the man's shoulder."  You see teeth here?  I sense something else is being sunk into that poor fellow.  Even his buttocks are bloody red!

" 'Man' is depicted with eyes wide open, nude and in state [sic] of adrenaline-fed surprise."  Ms White, you are a highly paid individual in the Bloomberg administration.  Did you ever proof-read this amateurish blowsy copy?

"The wild bear looms over the man while sinking his teeth into the man's shoulder, succumbing to the physical power of nature and exposing his own vulnerability.''  Who succumbs?  The bear?  The teeth?   Or the man's shoulder?  Certainly other body parts do not "succumb".

Ms White, little innocent New York City School children visit this park quite often.  Must they be subjected to such an offensive, disgraceful and outrageous depiction of bad taste, questionable "art", and obvious pornography?  I submit this borders on child abuse.  Just what is going on with the New York City Parks Department under your aegis which champions this blatant display of bestiality?

Sincerely Yours,
georgetheatheist

Now you see it. Now you dont.

Drove by today and the sidewalk "art" has been painted over. (See post below.) We've been hornswoggled? The possibilities:  1. A vandal came by with a gray paint can.
 2. The artist couldn't stand his/her own oeuvre and destroyed it.  3. The authorities read the riot act.  4. The religious festival has concluded.