FOR THE PEOPLE
The past year was memorable for its public art
Given the pandemic, it’s perhaps no surprise Edmonton’s new permanent public art deployed in 2020 seemed a little … decentralized.
Public art comes to us many ways: from private projects to municipally funded civic landmarks to love or yell about — and sometimes even a co-operative fusion of the two funding methods, which is often how The Works brings us new art.
Because of COVID-19, numerous city construction projects were variously delayed, which directly affected the pieces brought to us by Edmonton Arts Council’s Percent for Art Policy, the city’s official mandate that pledges one per cent of project construction budgets to new art.
Depending on the number of projects, every year’s tally is always different, but this year was extremely spartan from EAC — less than a handful of new pieces.
In fact, the EAC actually hired cranes to remove a few older works in 2020, one permanently as it had run its course: Nickelas Johnson’s giant hand, Ripp’d Off and Red, is now enjoying life in a pasture north of the city. Meanwhile, the Gandhi Bust and John Weaver’s The Trader are both in storage — for now — as Centennial Plaza behind the downtown library prepares for a major overhaul with new, interactive art already selected. We’ll keep you posted about that, and where the older statues eventually end up.
The Works, meanwhile, which under its Places banner had its hand in a few temporary installations — including a glowing gate currently sitting in Churchill Square through Jan. 7 — not only put off its annual art and design festival for at least a year, but added no permanent pieces to the city.
Even the ever-dependable indie Rust Magic International Street Mural Festival (run D.I.Y. by impassioned street-art advocates Annaliza Toledo and Trevor Peters) scaled back to the region of one building, The Grindstone, just south of Whyte Avenue, for a September micro-mural fest, Mural Massive, unleashing seven dazzling new walls.
And yet, overall, it was still a memorable year in public art, which for the Edmonton Arts Council — following the largest-ever EAC public art commission added to North East Transit Garage, Thorsten Goldberg’s 53°30’N, in 2019 — boiled down to just three pieces in the luminous cathedral interior of the downtown Milner Library. These include Edmonton artist Richard Copado’s wonderful wall of cartoon chaos on the way to the children’s section, and the resuscitation of Norman Yates’ 50-year-old sculptural painting on the second floor.
While you’ll have to wait a little while longer for the Alberta government restrictions to lift to return to the library and see these pieces, the masterwork among them is Peter von Tiesenhausen’s monumental Things I Knew To Be True. Up high on the library’s top floor, it’s a long series of paragraphs of secret text, where each letter is one of the Demmitt, Alberta, artist’s mesmerizing Watcher figures.
Outside the EAC’S artworks, you may have also noticed a number of wonderfully interactive sculptures on loan from Vancouver Biennale. Delivered by train and dropped onto 118 Avenue via Arts on the Ave, “on loan” indeed means they’re here for some time and include Cosimo Cavallaro’s Love Your Bean; Wang Shuyang’s The Meeting and Magdalena Abakanowicz’s Walking Figures.
But if there was one piece of art that struck the loudest chord in the city in 2020, it was the return of Bob and Doug in Ritchie Velthuis’ painted bronze tribute of the brothers Mckenzie sitting on a bench at 103 Street and 103 Avenue. Clutching a couple stubbies, these two arrived without fanfare in March just as the pandemic hit its stride, and offered huge relief as the city — indeed the world — wondered how bad things would be getting under the shadow of this brain-ruining COVID-19 insecurity.
That these two SCTV hosers showed up to a party no one else could come to — including their actors Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis — actually ended up being such a great punchline. Of course it went down like this after years of planning, it’s Bob and Doug! And as much as this statue honours a very, like, familiar Canadian lifestyle, it’s also worth noting the statue is also, down deep, a tribute to the arts, eh? What did you think TV comedy is, sports? Take off! But it’s such a great addition to the jock district.
Three last murals deserve note on our way out, two private commissions, starting with Jean Paul Langlois’ The Conversation over in Parkallen — a thoughtful look at appropriation by the Métis artist — at 6551 111 St. Next is Pete Nguyen’s giant skull on the east side of the Commercial Hotel on Whyte under the banner “Crush beers not dreams,” just in case you thought Bob and Doug were being too greedy with their outdoor suds. Both murals went up in July.
And finally, on the city’s Free Wall along the LRT tracks near 95 Street, AJA Louden’s Seventy Seasons tribute to Joey Moss — temporary as all art on such walls must be, and as all of us are, too.
But see what I mean about it being a memorable year for public art around here? Now bring on 2021’s!