Statue of Cartoonist Conrad Wins OK
Santa Monica’s Arts Commission has approved installation of a proposed statue by cartoonist Paul Conrad, which would depict an atomic-bomb mushroom cloud, at the corner of 14th Street and Olympic Boulevard.
The statue, which has yet to be built, was turned down by Beverly Hills’ Fine Arts Committee last week.
But the Santa Monica panel voted 5 to 0 to recommend the site in front of Memorial Gymnasium. The offer would still have to be approved by the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission and the City Council.
Conrad, a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner at The Times, said the statue will be financed by an anonymous donor at a cost of about $250,000. Fashioned out of copper tubing and called “Chain Reaction,” it will be 26 feet high.
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