L.I.C.’s embarrassing ‘chewed up bubblegum’ sculpture installed.

Published on: November 12th, 2016 | Written by: Joseph Anastasio

---

“What the hell is that? Are they trying to distract drivers more”?

This was the first comment I heard from a passerby as I watched a work crew installing L.I.C.’s newest, and arguably ugliest piece of public art. The work, commissioned by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, was first planned over two years ago. Created by artist Ohad Meromi, it cost the city a total of $515,000—over half a million dollars.

Bubblegum Man hidden around the corner on Purves street while Jackson avenue traffic is diverted.

The complete lack of any community input in the project has disturbed many neighborhood residents and leaders. The artwork itself has been criticizes by one community board member who stated: “this looks like you dug up Gumby’s grandmother and threw it on the median“.

Quickly moving Bubblegum man into position

Our own critique of this project is that the half million dollars could have been better spent on reopening the closed FDNY 261 firehouse, adding additional police patrols, street cleaning, road repair or any number of projects that would directly benefit the community.

Despite all of this, the project still moved forward, and early on the morning of November 12th, 2016 – a work crew swooped in and placed the sculpture on the median at the intersection of Jackson and 43rd Avenues. There was no announcement of when this work would take place beforehand. There was no fanfare, no politicians, nor art lovers present. The work crew diligently went about their task of lifting the sculpture from a trailer into position. Within an hour they had fled the scene as if the entire operation was one large nefarious act of state sponsored street vandalism.

Mission Complete, time to escape!

Comments

NOTE: It sometimes takes a short while for comments to be approved - unfortunately there's a lot of spam comments that come in. I absolutely love when y'all share personal stories of friends relatives etc who worked in these places. It really helps capture what these places were like before they closed up shop.

If you're feeling salty, argumentative comments completely devoid of facts (supply links to support your argument) will not be published. Got a case to state? come with the details.

One response to “L.I.C.’s embarrassing ‘chewed up bubblegum’ sculpture installed.”

1. Annette Alberts says:

   August 8, 2017 at 7:46 PM

   I’ve hated this statue since I first heard they were gonna go ahead with it, what a Waste of our tax dollars! ($500K of them). But now I’m even more disturbed by the even uglier glass boxes surrounding it.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.