What's with Calgary's love for rusty art all over the place?

[Sliver]

I really don't get this new aesthetic of building sculptures, signs, etc. out of rusty old scrap metal. I think it looks horrible (the material; the sculptures themselves can be very nice). Am I alone on this?

Poppy Plaza on memorial is effing hideous:


Here's Shaw's ugly sign:


A new one was unveiled this week in Quarry Park:


The quote on the material from the Herald article:

He said the self-weathering steel used in the project, known as Cor-Ten, creates a protective coating as it rusts, making it both durable and enduring.

And ugly!

Maybe if they threw some shellac or something over the rust after a year or two to gloss it up it might look a little better? Kind of like a rat rod. Really, though, I just think they need to be painted or made out of a different material. Rust is objectively awful and there are now too many of these eyesores.

[polak]

All inspired by the good ol' Rusty Trombone. An Alberta Tradition.

[AcGold]

There are so many wasteful and stupid art pieces in Calgary, there are some good artists here but some of the stuff in our city is just embarrassing imo. This rusty crap just goes into that list.

[peter12]

The Poppy Plaza is mind-boggling in its ugliness. The fact that it has become a target for graffiti tags makes it look even more like an abandoned railway bridge.

[Looch City]

Can you imagine if the Peace Bridge was made of the same rusty metal?

It would be awesome.

[Flash Walken]

It is not something you'd confuse with being gay.

[The Familia]

I don't mind Poppy Plaza. There are some good details hidden in the plaza itself and it kind of has a war memorial/old/rustic look. If you truly want to see a rusted abomination, check out the Barclay Center in Brooklyn where the islanders play....

[CroFlames]

I don't like to judge other people's art, because art is in the eye of the beholder. Some art I like, others might not like.

Having said that, I do not find those particular pieces appealing.


I like the center street bridge. I think it's tastefully done (although it could use about 3 extra lanes on each side).

Why not complement it with a big archway, like an entrance way into the downtown core?

Maybe a dumbed down version of:

Spoiler!

or

Spoiler!

[peter12]

So if you were skate-boarding through Poppy Plaza, bailed in order to avoid a 40-something woman running with her little white dog, and scraped your arm against the rough steel of the monument, would you need to go get a tetanus shot?

Good lord, these are not only aesthetic disasters, but public health menaces as well!

[prarieboy]

You are not alone in your belief.

The Poppy Plaza piece is not a piece of art. It's a piece of junk.

[surferguy]

Cor-ten Steel looks fantastic. The benefit for public art is that once it is installed you do not need to do any maintenance on the finish. It rusts to a certain degree then stops. I love the look of it.

[Table 5]

Random thoughts:

1. Rusty art is the new horse/bull sculpture. Sometimes they even combine forces.

2. Regardless of the rusty art there, Poppy plaza badly needs a restaurant/coffee place in the building beside it to make that area work.

3. Taggers should be shot.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Table 5

3. Taggers should be shot.

Thanked for this

[Fuzz]

It's just preparing us for the upcoming apocalypse. We are going to be waaaay ahead of other cities when the time comes. Forward thinking people.

A few years ago I wanted to start a website called uglymetalartyyc.com and catalog all the horrendous art pieces in the city. Buuuut, I'm lazy. The absolute worst is this hunk of garbage.
https://goo.gl/maps/dV4GDutVVGk

They have re-done the area, so I'm not sure where they have moved it to. Hopefully melted down for scrap.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Cor-ten Steel looks fantastic. The benefit for public art is that once it is installed you do not need to do any maintenance on the finish. It rusts to a certain degree then stops. I love the look of it.

Well, yeah, it stops at maximum rust. That's not a good thing if something gets as ugly as possible, then stays there forever.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Well, yeah, it stops at maximum rust. That's not a good thing if something gets as ugly as possible, then stays there forever.

It's funny how it has some trendy hip name to make people believe it's awesome.

Cor-ten: it rusts like crazy, then stops rusting after a while!

[polak]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I don't like to judge other people's art, because art is in the eye of the beholder. Some art I like, others might not like.

Having said that, I do not find those particular pieces appealing.


I like the center street bridge. I think it's tastefully done (although it could use about 3 extra lanes on each side).

Why not complement it with a big archway, like an entrance way into the downtown core?

Maybe a dumbed down version of:

Spoiler!

or

Spoiler!

Most cities have a Triumphal arch. Surprised that tradition didn't carry over. There's one in Central Park but I think that's the only place I've seen one in North America.

[Regulator75]

Still better than the giant blue ring.

[OMG!WTF!]

Solution...hire Germans to chop it up into perfect circles, paint it rust proof blue, hang a light on top and charge 500k.

I love the Fafard horses by the old court house on 5th. They can get rusty as nails and still be perfect.

[peter12]

To have a triumphal arch, don't you also need a precedent set in, you know, actual historical triumph? I mean we did beat the Prussians twice, just like the French, and they have an Arch of Triumph. That would be pretty cool actually - a monument to testify the killing of hundreds of thousands of Teutons.