CHICAGO PUBLIC ART #18 - "I WILL"

Erected in 1981 on the northeast corner of Fullerton Avenue and Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park. By Ellsworth Kelly, who created those geometrical colored forms that grace both sides of the upper hall outside of The Art Institute's Regenstein Hall.

Now it's funny, this art, because for decades now, I have turned that corner to look for parking along Cannon Drive because I frequently go to the Landmark Movie Theater up on Clark Street, and most always park on Cannon and walk up. And probably somewhere in my subconscious if you had asked me, I might have recalled a something on that corner, but could not have told you what.

But yesterday on a day that definitely had a taste of spring in the air, I did go to a movie at Landmark, did park on Cannon, and before the movie, walked down to the corner to look at and admire this piece.
All the articles call it a column; I'm not sure I'd use that word. According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, a column is "a supporting pillar; esp: one consisting of a usu. rounded shaft, a capital, and a base". This is not that at all, as you can see from the pictures. It is a geometrical form, very slightly bulging in the middle, and almost invisible from the sides, it is so slender.

Also, according to the sign embedded in the facing rock formation, Kelly calls it "Curve XXII", not "I Will".
Artner says this is stainless steel and calls it a "minimal column". It is most certainly minimal, but beautiful in its starkness, I think. It is situated at the farthest point north of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and yesterday, at a little before 1 pm, the form reflected that fire in my pictures. Serendipity? Purposeful by Kelly? Who knows? The form faces southwest, and at that time of day in February perfectly both absorbs and reflects the sun. The red spray at the top is only in my picture. Doesn't it look like a flame shooting up?

















Supposedly, the form relates to our skyscrapers that were built after the fire, but here, to me, it seems to have been sculpted to be a shooting flame. At least at a certain time of day in the year. and I was lucky enough to have caught it. (This is not the same picture, lest you think it was a fluke; I even have a third.) And if you look very close, the ground in front seems to be reflecting that light.
Apparently the "I Will' comes from the fact that that was the motto adopted by Chicagoans after the fire. And they certainly did.
Other literature says it's hollow, although when I touched it, and even gave it a rap, it didn't seem hollow. It is totally flat, and so slender, it is almost two-dimensional. I loved it.

Public Art in Chicago # 1 - Another In-Order Adventure

On July 25th, The Trib's Alan Artner, their art critic, published a list on the 10 best outdoor sculptures in our fair city, plus another 10 online. As you know, I love lists, so here is another project, to view all these artworks in chronological order. Some are very familiar, some I never heard of.

First one - Abraham Lincoln by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1887

This is directly behind The Chicago History Museum at 1601 North Clark Street, just a tad north of North Avenue. There is a really super fountain at the northeast corner, where there is a bus staging. (place where buses start and end their routes) But the statue is down a short walk, around the museum to the back. And it is truly superb, best I've ever seen outside The Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Grand and imposing, with wonderful Art Deco ends to the surrounding stone bench. According to Artner, "A portrait statue so admired internationally that in 1918 the British government approved a copy to stand outside Westminster Abbey"! And gorgeous gardens to boot. Beautiful, all.