Outcry saves ‘sad looking’ sculpture

The sculpture in Nita Carman Park is a metal abstract of a man and a woman, both on concrete pads a few feet from each other. She is lying face down as if sunbathing, and he is resting in a chair.

The work looks a little weather-beaten. And that is why city officials opted to have it taken away.

But strong public pleadings won out.

The City Council, in a rare reversal of a decision, voted unanimously Tuesday night to rescind its January decision to remove artist Leonard Glasser’s “The Sunbathers” from the grassy plot below the Laguna Beach High School baseball field.

Mayor Pro Tem Toni Iseman had requested that the item be brought back for discussion after she received phone calls and emails from residents wanting the sculpture — installed in 1983 — to stay.

“A lot of what we do generates public comment, but this one really did,” Iseman said. “I really didn’t want to lose ‘The Sunbathers,’ but I had this sense of being a real economic decision and would be perpetually a problem. People were tearful about losing this. I love the fact there is so much passion for public art in the community.”

In October, the city’s Arts Commission voted unanimously to remove the sculpture, citing a consultant’s report that “the artwork is in poor condition and has become an eyesore. Both figures present similar problems — failed surface coating, exposed steel, active corrosion.”

Earlier, the city had spent $8,550 on three renovations, according to a staff report, but Glasser said Tuesday that vandalism was the problem in each of those instances. In one case, vandals poured black paint on the piece, he said.

Glasser, a local artist, suggested restoring the work with stainless steel to guard against corrosion.

“The problem with the sculpture is it’s never cleaned,” he said. “I looked at it today. Most of the problem is just dirt. It needs to be washed. Rust in the future will be a problem [with Laguna’s marine air]. Dirt will be a problem, which is why I recommend doing it in stainless.”

Arts commissioner Pat Kollenda said the group took seriously its job of deciding what to recommend for the sculpture, which she called one of her favorite pieces in Laguna.

“It was originally powder-coated to look like flesh and lips and eyes and bikini, and that was a big part of the charm,” said Kollenda, who was a commission member the last two times Glasser repaired the sculpture. “He chose to paint it white, which was his choice. But on both those occasions, rust was a problem. If you go look at it now, it makes me cry. It’s sad looking. It’s not what a piece of art should be.”

The criteria for removing a piece of public art is excessive maintenance and overrunning costs, and this qualified, Kollenda added.

Glasser will present to the Arts Commission a revised plan, which would include material costs, who would pay for the work and whether the sculpture should be moved to another location within the park.

Speakers Tuesday said the piece is a favorite urinating spot for dogs, though Glasser disputed those claims, saying he raised the concrete bases out of dogs’ range during the last repair.

Iseman said she would hold a fundraiser at her house to help with renovation costs.

Laguna resident Bob Borthwick said he has enjoyed the sculpture the “hundreds of times” he has walked by.

“It’s fun, it’s unpretentious, it’s the essence of relaxation, which is what we want to promote,” Borthwick said.