Giant Rhinestone-Encrusted Fish Invade Baltimore
Posted by Xydexx Unicorn on Thu 8 Feb 2001 - 20:53
From the Baltimore Sun: 'There's something fishy going on in Baltimore.
The city plans to mount 200 rainbow-colored, rhinestone-encrusted fish statues this spring on busy downtown street corners to boost local morale and reel in tourists.'
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Xydexx Unicorn — read stories — contact (login required)an eccentric and inflatable unicorn from Hudson Highlands, NY, interested in recumbent bicycling
Comments
...they're doing this to boost morale?? "I know what this city needs! Lots of large fish!"
I *was* in Cincinnati when they were doing the piggy thing. That was odd. This is weird.
Then again - who am I to talk about weird? ;)
Hey, I really liked the cow parade ones that were... gosh, I don't remember where they were originally. Maybe it was also Chicago? The only thing I remember is that they moved them to New York and the New Yorkers were completely blase about them.
They had 'Cows on Parade' in Chicago for quite a while. The Sun article mentions them as one of the influences for the fish. :) The cows were pretty neat; I miss them. ;)
And then down in North Carolina...
New wolf pack to descend on Raleigh -- thanks to arts commission
By JOANNA KAKISSIS, News & Observer Staff Writer
RALEIGH -- Chicago had its artsy plaster cows, Cincinnati its pigs, New Orleans its fish. Soon, Raleigh will have wolves -- 145 fiberglass wolves, larger than life-size, all over the city, its latest venture into public art.
The wolves will be painted like astronauts, or Uncle Sam, or whatever fanciful identity their artists wish. They will cost $400,000 -- and the Raleigh Arts Commission says it will raise the money privately.
On Tuesday, the commission persuaded the City Council to lend it $47,500 to begin the "Raleigh Red Wolf Ramble." Commission members brought small replicas of the wolves, painted red and faintly smiling, to show to the politicians.
"I think it's going to be great!" said City Council member Julie Shea Graw, after Mayor Paul Coble wondered aloud whether the venture would make money.
The idea isn't new. The animals in Chicago and elsewhere were painted as chieftains or showgirls or ... well, you get the picture. Commission member Carole Marcotte says the dolled-up sculptures are wildly successful, too, at luring tourists.
Around here, red wolves are known to roam N.C. State University's campus on game nights. They wear crimson sweaters and baseball caps and howl mightily when they win.
But don't try this imagery on Marcotte. She will tell you that the art project isn't linked with NCSU's mascot and that the wolf is mystical, "rooted in story and myth."
"There are clever literary ideas here," said commission member Melinda Baran. "Like Sir Lawrence Wolf or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. These will be friendly wolves. It will be art that's user-friendly."
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