Wooden Whales Wish Recondition

Expanding spray foam? Should use FlexSeal.

Not FlexSeal

 

The painted wood sculpture of two breaching whales by artists Jorge Rodriguez, Neftali  Palomares and Javier Campos was crafted in 2016, But less than a decade later, the art piece appears to be rotting from the inside out. Numerous cavities are present, the paint is worn, and a pectoral fin of one of the whales recently fell off.
“Maybe it’s time to retire the whales,” one resident said on social media after seeing their condition.

BrokenFin

A campaign to raise $9,000 to pay for the piece and fund future maintenance was launched in 2016. It’s unclear if any of that money remains.

What about replacing the antennae on the little girl in the Butterfly Parade statues in front of the post office? Can we start a campaign to replace them? Shoot, the bird guy in front of the Chamber Of Commerce was repaired faster than a train ride to Maine.

bronze butterfly parade kids

Wooden Whales Wish Recondition

Public Art Policy Gets Review (the Whales Are Ugly)

ugly whales

Originally, they were to have a natural finish, but after considerable rotted wood was found, the artists ended up painting the chainsaw-sculpted whales.

Since then, kids have frequently been spotted climbing on the sculpture and its base, raising both liability and safety concerns and prompting the proposal to put a fence and lighting around it. But that idea raised the ire of some residents like Luke Coletti who is adamant the park, which is zoned open space, remain so without a section of it sequestered off.

Brodeur said any new policy is likely to be better than what ill-defined guidelines were in place.

Public Art Policy Gets Review (the Whales Are Ugly)

Wooden Whales Get Weak Welcome

Except from Bill K(r)ampe. He just loves them.

ugly whales

Some are calling them kitschy, even an eyesore. That’s how a group of Pacific Grove residents are characterizing the completed sculpture of a pair of breaching whales in the city’s Berwick Park located along picturesque Ocean View Boulevard.

“I don’t like to be judgmental of art but if we can see real whales out there we don’t need to see cartoon characters of whales that basically distract your eye from the real thing,” said longtime resident and artist Jane Flury.

Local activist Luke Coletti agreed.

“The whales are nothing more than a garish eyesore and detract from the natural art of Berwick Park,” said Coletti, about the wooden sculpture that was completed in October.

Wooden Whales Get Weak Welcome

Tree Sacrificed For Ugly Art

Termites do your best.

“We’re about 60 percent into it,” said Jorge Rodriguez, the artist leading the project and working alongside fellow sculptors Javier Campos and Neftali Palomares commissioned to do the work. “We’re now going over the fine details.”

“The transformation of natural resources into chainsaw ‘art’ is an absurd practice within an environment such as Berwick Park,” said Coletti, in a prepared statement. “Many, including myself, want to see a living tree re-established here instead.”

Tree Sacrificed For Ugly Art