As I was chowing down on chicken tacos from La Jarochita’s cart on the corner of SW 5th and Oak, I spent the entire duration of my short meal trying to figure out what the hell this is:
It looked to me like a piece of transit mall furniture, like the $2000 brushed-steel trashcans and the new bus stops. Maybe it’s some kind of colorful barrier to keep lunchers from sitting on the curb? Maybe it’s a really inefficient bike rack or a place to tie your dog?
Make your guesses. The real answer, according to TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch, is below the cut.
It’s art! Part of the one percent for art that TriMet sets aside from its current project budgets.
It’s funny to say this, but the piece looks too utilitarian to be art. I’m a big fan of beautifully designed useful objects (like architectural spoons or handbuilt bikes) but this does not strike me as an artistically-designed object. The aesthetics of it seem like an afterthought—like they needed something to put in the clear middle space and decided, “Hey, why not some colorful cut outs of people?” It looks as though it was built for some function and then some art was sort of slapped on afterwards, like the “contemporary gateways” on the current CRC bridge design.
But anyway, uh, don’t tie your dog to it.
It’s a leaning rail.
It’s one of the new solar powered Portland Hipstermeters, reflecting our ‘green’ modernist aesthetic
Ha ha! I stared at this while I ate my fine hot dog and I thought it was some sort of ineffective barrier to keep us jaywalking. Now I know.
In other news, Trimet’s board voted this morning to end Fareless Square for buses as of the start of January. Because they can’t afford it.
Spot the link???
Blech. Why does public art always have to be bad art?
So, can I lock my bike to it?
Apparently in Portland it’s just “percent for art,” because it’s really 1.33 percent or something. For the Rose Quarter Annex, they just blew it all on a giant dumb looking snake. So I guess we should consider ourselves lucky they limited themselves to a modestly sized Electric Company promotional wall.
It’s like the Aqua Teen Hunger Force once said to me: “Standards and practices make a mediocre product that no one can relate to”– this, most visible in bureaucratically approved public art.
It’s obviously a sneeze guard.
It’s ugly.
Whatever Tri-met paid for it, it was too much. Done for free would be too expensive. It’s hideous. IMHO
At least it has a handle up top! C’mon guys! You don’t want this thing gettin away from ye! You want a secure hand-hold, and baby, this has it! Grasp the concept! ™
Also it has pictures of people, which is good because the transit mall is only crawling with people. And brushed stainless steel is always good. Always.
Actually if I’m not mistaken I believe this is an “Anchor Bolt Tester,” also sometimes known as a “Brick Pryer.”