$42,000 not bad, eh?

Howdy!

Saw this press release from the city, and initially recognized it as one of those feel good stories that won't get any play, anywhere. The local media, for the most part prefers sob stories. But looking at it closer, a couple of things jumped up at me that make me go 'hmmmm.'

According to the Conseil des Métiers d'art du Québec, Jean-Bernard Dolleans, the guy who is Dolleans inc., Art Conservation is a metalworker who specializes in engraving. The piece is made of Paint, Granite Bench, Silk-screen Inks, and Steel. I'm not certain exactly what needs to be engraved.

If it is going to cost $42,740 to restore, I wonder how much it originally cost? To find out, I've emailed Linda Covit (the artist), Therese Dion (the gallery that represents Ms. Covit, I think), Benoit Labonté (the person responsible for getting the check signed) and Le Musée plein air (the owners of the piece). If and when any of them get back to me, I'll update it here.

If it is going to cost $42,740 to restore, and Ms. Covit is still alive, shouldn't she be the one getting the cash to do the restoration? As far as I understand, the current trends in restoration of contemporary art are to have the artists themselves explain how it should be done.

And lastly, speaking of fixing stuff at the Open Air Museum of Lachine, does anyone know what happened to this piece?


Unfortunately, I don't get there every day.

Then just for silly giggles, in this piece of folderol explaining the work in French they describe Theatre for Sky Blocks as 'Trois colonnes quadrangulaires se dressent côte à côte, sur le bord du lac Saint-Louis.' [three quadrangular columns side to side on the edge of Saint Louis Lake]. Then in today's press release someone decided to take advantage of the fact that it is the summertime, it is described as 'composée de trois parallélépipèdes, dressés en arc, portant sur leur face nord des nuages et un banc placé à proximité qui invite le passant à regarder cet ensemble d'un point de vue bien précis.' [composed of three parallelepipeds, drawn up in arc, bearing on their northern face of the clouds and a bench placed in the vicinity which invites the passer by to look at this whole from a quite precise point of view.]

Parallelepipeds! When I die I wanna come back as a parallelepiped!!