Advertisement

ART

Share
<i> Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press</i>

Is It Art?A bronze statue of Sylvester Stallone as boxer Rocky Balboa is the prize in a tug of war over where it should be located and whether the piece is art or kitsch. The larger-than-life statue now rests atop the 72 steps to the Philadelphia Art Museum, where it was used as a prop in the recently completed location shooting of “Rocky V.” But some people want the bronze removed from in front of the city’s temple of culture and taken back to the Spectrum arena in South Philadelphia, where it was put after first appearing on the museum steps in 1982’s “Rocky III.” State Sen. Vincent Fumo is leading the effort to keep the bronze in front of the museum and has introduced a resolution to that effect, but critics contend that the statue is badly executed and only commemorates the fictitious Balboa’s cinematic victory in “Rocky.”

Advertisement