Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle Has Arrived...

Vanguard

Bruce Beasley

Stainless Steel

1982

Stanford Campus

Needs Some Moth Balls...

Luna Moth Walk I

Charles Ginnever

Cort-Ten Steel

1982

Stanford Campus

The best part about this rusted piece of crap is that it's not the worst thing in the picture... you can see Mozart I in the background...

Ram Tough

Big Ram Skull and Horn

Jack Zajac

Bronze

1976 

Stanford Campus

And everyday when the sprinklers come on, it becomes a bird bath...

It looks like the mold broke and this is the result. Not so much awful as it is dull and uninteresting.

Who Knew Katrina Hit Stanford...?

Mozart I

Kenneth Snelson

Stanford Campus

1982

Here's an up close and personal look at it... ah... I see what Mr. Snelson was doing.

I keep thinking that this was something more spectacular and that a pin broke during a big storm and the whole thing got so tangled up they said, "Just leave it... someone's bound to read into it and think it's art, right?"

Bank Art

Banks have a sacred place in the world of bad art. Boring. Uninteresting on a level that is almost unsurpassable... Worse, they often think they are being daring or innovative--and they usually aren't.

A classic example, is this attempt in Castro Valley. I've passed it dozens of times and never noticed it. And then I did.


Not sure if this is part of the sculpture, or if this is someone's attempt at a repair... Maybe it was a fountain at one point--if it was, they lost something interesting, I think the water would have been interesting against the texture. But now, it just looks like shit...

"...we have a problem."

"Plumed Serpent"

Public art is such a tricky thing. Art is usually commissioned by a committee. This is a very dangerous. Committee Art is the result of everyone feeling the need to give their input putting government entities and institutions to do everything they can not to "offend" people. The result is generally bland, dull and--most often--ugly art. No one is challenged; everyone is bored.

In the case above, it's a bit of the above as well as being flat out cheap. The Robert Graham-designed piece was commissioned by the City of San Jose to show the harmony and diversity of its citizens. Originally, the piece was larger, multi-colored, with wings.

Then the city found out how much it would cost. They asked Graham to go back and make it cheaper. This is the result:

Dull beyond belief. Strange lines from the mold and two shades that make no sense. My favorite time to see this is at night when it is wet just after a bit of rain. The water begins to steam off the ground lights and it looks exactly what it truly is: a steaming pile of shit.

This website is dedicated to finding all those bad sculptures and 'artistic' touches that cities and companies force upon us so we think we are living in a society where we are surrounded by culture. Instead, we are surrounded by idiots and the crappy art they force upon us.