Angry Carlsbad Crowd Debates Artwork’s Merits

The arguing raged on Thursday over Split Pavilion, the new $338,000 coastal artwork in Carlsbad, as 150 people crowded a city Arts Commission meeting, where factions demanded that the sculpture be either ripped out or saved.

During a sometimes emotional and angry hearing, people vented their feelings about the nearly completed 7,500-square-foot project of trellises, reflecting ponds and an 8-foot-high galvanized steel fence on Carlsbad Boulevard.

“This plumber’s nightmare must come down,” said city resident James Sullivan, who declared his “personal outrage” over what he termed a “monstrosity” and an “artistic blunder.”

Although they were fewer in number, defenders of the work by New York artist Andrea Blum insisted it would be wrong and unfair either to remove or alter the piece, which took five years to plan, design and build.

“Any attempt to tell an artist how to modify a work, to me, is close to censorship,” said Lori Mastin. She urged the commission to be “tolerant and brave” to support art “that may not be comfortable, but has integrity.”

The debate went on like that for two hours as 18 speakers lambasted Split Pavilion and 10 speakers staunchly supported it. Foes have gathered nearly 4,000 petition signatures urging that the work be taken down.

“The design looks like it belongs in the ghetto of New York,” said Barbara Prigg, adding that Californians don’t like “to look at our sunsets through bars.”

Another city resident, Richard Haddad, said, “Why we need a fountain next to the biggest ocean in the world is totally beyond me.” And Steve Nelson told the commission: “Somebody’s going to cram this down our throats? This is not going to wash with people.”

However, defenders said Split Pavilion is attractive and that the city went through a long public review process, starting in 1987, before the design was accepted. There had been no loud protest until the sculpture neared completion.

Ken Katz, a local artist, told detractors, “You all had the chance back in ‘87” to speak out about the project. “You have only yourselves to blame at this point.”

As a purely aesthetic matter, Ellen Rice said, she likes “the way the sunlight reflected on the bars” and how the fence picks up colors as the day passes. Other supporters argued that the artwork would win favor if the community would get to know it and give it time.

What’s going to result from the verbal slugfest is unclear, and the commission intends to hold another meeting to consider what, if any, options it has.

In the meantime, the city attorney’s office is studying the contract between Carlsbad and artist Blum to determine whether, if the city desires, it has any right to change the sculpture.