January 25, 2008

Art or Unhappy Memories of Mother?



Forgive me, I know it is simply my imagination that is not keeping up with the fine things in life - but occasionally I find it difficult to appreciate what is tagged as 'art'. This piece is sitting just down the street from the Basilica (you can see the cupola in the bottom photo) and is at the cross roads of bus and metro stations.


This a comparatively new park so it is doubly disappointing to see that the tiles had already fallen off of the side along the sidewalk.

13 comments:

Fénix - Bostonscapes said...

Does this "art" have a name? And, have they placed the rest of the body at the other end of the park? ;D

Re: missing tiles, it'd look as if someone has decided to renovate their bathroom on the cheap. Are tiles expensive in Buda? >8D

AVCr8teur said...

Not sure what the artist was trying to convey in the art piece, but I had to imagine it was approved by some city officials before it was placed there. Perhaps like the shoddy workmanship of the tiles, the artist ran out of money in finishing the piece.

zakscloset said...

now you can go and finish up that piece!

Oswegan said...

Maybe the artist ran out of materials. It's clear what their fixation is.

dot said...

It's certainly different! Almost looks like something fell and broke.

Clueless in Boston said...

I like the sculpture. It looks like the artist's intent was to make a modern sculpture with the look of an ancient one. And it goes with the rest of the ramshackle look of the park.

Unknown said...

if you were going to finish the art, how are you going to do it? :-)

Isadora said...

Fenix - it is a fair question :) No, I did not see a plaque anywhere identifying art or artist. This, BTW is on the same block as the park from the other day with the statue of the shepherd. To me it looked like a clear mother complex of some kind.

Clueless your estimate is probably closest to the truth - or so I would like to think. In any case it is strange to set a statue in the mud and have to wonder if there is a significance or only that the materials were stolen by the time they put it up.

What I did not show on the photo is the rest of this part of the park - it was known for years as the 'big dig'. Just off of Deak Sq. in the center of town was to be the home of the National Theater during Orban's first term as PM. The dig began for the foundation when Demsky, Budapest's mayor for life, of the opposition began to contest it. It remained a dig for years until the mayor won and the underground shops and who knows what were built in the hole and a park built on top.

I refuse to go there as I also refuse to go visit the new National Theater built waaaay up the river with a great parking facility and one tram line running by it for means of transport for the rest of the 'nation' who does not drive. At Deak it would have been available for everyone with ease.

Oswegan :) funny you should say so, I've seen your snow woman.

quintarantino said...

That statue should be in a much open space and on a lawn basis ... or perharps in the middle of a small urban lake ...

Fénix - Bostonscapes said...

Isadora, it looks like "the winner for February is 'When People Think of My City They Think of...'"

Such a dumb theme.

smilnsigh said...

I too find it difficult to appreciate _much_, which is called 'art.'

Mari-Nanci

Jim Klenke said...

If the park was built here in the states, I would guess a developer got a big tax break or approval to build something in exchange for building a park and displaying art. Not sure if I would call it a park or art. Either way Budapest is still a lovely city.

sam said...

disappointing, yes ...but what a brilliant photo that speaks a thousand words about the difference between the care and pride taken in building in the past, compared to the way things are just slapped together now.