Trenton, NJ – It was off to Jersey this weekend to see the giant tooth! I love giant things, but this giant tooth isn’t your average everyday oversized item. It’s part of Grounds for Sculpture, New Jersey’s largest sculpture park. Although I skipped the park, I couldn’t miss the tooth. Titled Comprehension by J. Seward Johnson, it can be seen right as you get off (or on, depending on which way you’re coming from) I-295.
When I came off the highway and saw it I thought that it must be popular, seeing as there were 2 people standing right in front of it. It took me a while to notice that they weren’t people. They were part of the sculpture, and they’re great for determining the scale of the thing. They are a man an a woman looking at the large tooth-like structure with bewildered faces. From one side it’s very obviously a tooth, but from the back it’s a bit of a mutated tooth. A woman who stopped to take pictures with her husband and grandson told me she thought it looked like and elephant. She also mentioned that when they look at the thing both her and her husband feel like they’re making the same faces.
I have to admit the former snotty art student in me loved this sculpture. Not only because it’s a big thing (In fact for years if it wasn’t an Oldenburg I didn’t consider it art, I couldn’t have been more wrong! Now I wonder if Oldenburg is to arty to be an odd find), but because part of the point of art is to push boundaries and making people think. If that means pulling over to the side of the road to take a picture with a Giant Tooth than it’s done it’s job. It doesn’t need to be dipped in formaldehyde to art, it just needs to make people stop and take it in. Weather they like it or not.
Fremont, WA – You may wonder, as you walk through the streets of the free and democratic Fremont Washington what on earth is a statue of Lenin is doing there. And I don’t mean the Beatles Lenin (which may seem a bit more likely in this odd Seattle neighborhood), I mean the father of the Soviet Union. The man who helped to tear down the tyranny of the Russian monarchy and brought rise to even more tyranny, and a cold war, and now misplaced nuclear war heads. And why, you may wonder, is he standing in front of the Taco Del Mar in Fremont, WA? Well, as with all of the other awesomely bizarre treasures on the Fremont walking tour, you can read all about it.
Apparently Lenin was brought over by a Seattle resident who happened to be teaching English in the former Soviet republic. The statue was on the verge of being melted into scrap when he rescued it from becoming any number of classy Russian chachkies. After spending a whopping $13,000 for the statue and an even more impressive $41,000 for the shipping Lenin finally came to America. The owner passed away before he could enjoy the artwork he spent a small fortune on and so now the statue is on exhibit (and sale by the former owner’s estate for $250,000) on the corner of North 36th Street.
Seattle, WA – If you enter Pike Place Market by the big sign by the clock you’re bound to see her. She’s bronze, she’s big and she’s the donation hub of Seattle’s most famous market. Pike Place Market may be know for the fish throwers, the flowers, or even the odds and ends, but the reason it’s all still around is Rachel. She’s a big bronze pig. Weighing something like 600 lbs. she may just be the heaviest pig, and piggy bank, in the world. I’m pretty sure there are larger pig and banks out there because she doesn’t boast her enormity, but I love her girth. Kids and tourists love her too. Snapping photos and climbing on top of the life sized pig make great photo ops and fun for the whole family. While she was originally cast to bring in funds to keep the market going and you can see the bronze tracks of the more liberal donnor with there names on them in the area. Don’t fret if you don’t have a handful of change, the money slot is plenty big enough to bills…maybe one day she’ll be equip to take plastic.
