Let’s Put Up the Art

Choosing public art for San Diego’s waterfront just shouldn’t be as difficult as it seems to be. With more than $1.2 million in a Unified Port District account for art and more money being made available each year, sculpture should be popping up on the tidelands like toadstools.

The problem is not that the port commissioners are unwilling to part with the money, but that the controversy that has sprung up around the initial proposals of their arts advisory committee has so far succeeded in quashing or threatening each project.

After listening to much acrimonious debate in 1985, the commissioners did eventually come to grips with the committee’s first recommendation, a stainless steel monolith by minimalist Ellsworth Kelly proposed for Embarcadero Park. But by the time the project was approved, Kelly had become so upset by the shrill criticism emanating from San Diego that he withdrew.

Now, we are seeing history repeat itself. The advisory committee’s latest proposals, while almost universally applauded by art professionals, have come under harsh attack from some who consider them extreme or simply do not appreciate them.

What is surprising and disappointing is that the latest pieces have attracted so much criticism despite how different they are from the sculpture Kelly would have built. Unlike Kelly’s design, which was elegant but not representational, the proposals of Vito Acconci and Roberto Salas spring from images that epitomize San Diego--boats, water, palm trees, grass and the shadows of airplanes. Acconci, who is from New York and did not understand the vivid memories many people here still have of the 1978 PSA crash, mistakenly included in his original design what could be seen as crashed planes. But he readily agreed to remove those.

As with much in life that is worthwhile, high-quality art is an acquired taste. Not everyone is going to instantly like every piece of sculpture. Good public art has enough complexity that it is not fully understood the first time it is seen and is not experienced the exact same way each time it is viewed. The art world is replete with examples of works that were vilified when they were first introduced but came to be considered masterpieces.

In Chicago, for example, there was a great cacophony of protest surrounding the unveiling of Picasso’s “Steel Sculpture” in 1967. But today it’s one of the city’s landmarks, a tourist attraction and sort of a municipal talisman that has even been draped with logos of the Chicago Bears before they played in the Super Bowl game.

The solution to the bayfront art controversy is not to find the lowest common denominator--art that would be pleasant enough but never surprising, inoffensive but soon boring. The port commissioners should listen to the expert committee they appointed and begin providing opportunities for people to experience public art. They should approve Salas’ blue “Victory Palm” for Harbor Island, work with Acconci so that he can replace the airplane hulks with something more acceptable, and then build that at Spanish Landing.

We predict that, once the artworks are in place, it will not take long for the criticism to die down and for the voices of appreciation to multiply.