Trouble in the Park : Arts Group Says No to Balboa Statue, Calls Explorer an Oppressor

A controversial sculpture of Balboa should not be placed in Balboa Park, the city’s Commission for Arts and Culture recommended Friday, citing public sensitivity to the glorification of the Spanish explorer whose “discovery” of the Pacific Ocean helped unleash centuries of European conquest of the Americas.

The commission recommended against placing the sculpture in the Palisades section of the park in a 4-2 vote. The City Council will vote on the sculpture Nov. 18.

The sculpture, a 23-foot-high bronze on a 10-foot sandstone base, shows Vasco Nunez de Balboa standing, holding a flag. Local patrons Elizabeth and Gaye North commissioned the sculpture as a gift to the city. It was designed by Tijuana artist Guillermo Castano.

Members of the Commission for Arts and Culture expressed concern that the sculpture was not stylistically consistent with the Art Deco-influenced architecture that would surround it, but those recommending against putting the statue there also objected to the subject of the work. Balboa (1475-1519) is credited as the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, but, like the furor that has surrounded the celebration of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World, he is held accountable for part of the oppression and violence against native populations that was set off by the Age of Exploration.

“Because (the sculpture) is going to be in such a visible site, it’s our responsibility to reflect a reconsideration of history,” arts commissioner Mario Torero said. “Would the Polish celebrate the entrance of the Nazis into their country?”

Commissioner Darlene Shiley, who voted in favor of the sculpture, said the issue of content is not an appropriate criterion for the commission to assess.

“We are not empowered to say no on the basis of content,” she said. “If you could say no strictly on the basis of content, that would be censorship.”

Torero and several others on the commission felt strongly, however, about their duty to take the artwork’s meaning into account.

“We have to,” Torero said. “We’re doing public service. We’re a public commission. It’s not a personal thing. We’re reflecting the public, the people. It was our responsibility to translate this public feeling onto the board.”

When the sculpture comes up for City Council review, he said, “then you will hear the public itself.”

Members of the commission on both sides of the issue agreed, however, that the agency’s policy concerning donations of art to the city should be spelled out more clearly. The commission is one of several review-and-approval bodies to advise the council on such donations. The proposed sculpture of Balboa already had been approved by the Historical Site Board, the Facilities Committee, the Balboa Park Committee and the Park and Recreation Board before Friday’s arts commission meeting. Several commissioners expressed dismay at being scheduled so late in the process.

“Normally, we are supposed to be the beginning evaluators, or early in the process,” said Jess Stoddart, chairman of the commission. “As it happened, this statue was already accepted before we were asked to make any kind of decision.”