Newport picks next round of sculptures for Civic Center exhibit

The Newport Beach City Council gave unanimous final approval Tuesday to the next round of sculptures for the Civic Center Park sculpture exhibit. The 10 new works are slated to be installed in June and remain on display for two years.

The chosen pieces are:

• “Slices of Heaven”— a 9-foot-tall stack of steel, stucco and concrete citrus slices in Technicolor orange and yellow
• “Pinnacle”— a 3-foot-tall abstract piece of engineered aerospace polymer and carbon fiber coated in white lacquer
• “Hurricane”— a 9½-foot-tall by 16-foot-wide jumble of Tinkertoy-like shapes in brushed aluminum
• “Chairman of the Board”— a 13-foot-tall stainless-steel pincer-like scoop
• “The Tot”— a 32-inch-tall stainless-steel lad wearing swim trunks and goggles
• “Spy Boy”— a multicolored 6-foot-tall humanoid figure made from found scrap steel
• “Feathers in the Wind”— a kinetic sculpture featuring three swirling blue steel feathers atop a 10-foot pole
• “Windswept”— a trio of abstract steel figures
• “Contender”— a 13-foot-tall leggy stick figure of welded corten steel
• “Start Now”— a 10-foot-tall sign with a mirrored octagonal face; it looks like a stop sign but instead reads “Start.”

The city Arts Commission changed the finalist lineup between a March selection meeting and Tuesday’s council vote, reversing its picks of a nearly full-scale mule deer in bronze and a life-size bronze of the biblical figure Delilah. They were nixed because the buck’s pointed antlers were considered potentially unsafe and Delilah’s revealing clothing wasn’t considered appropriate for all ages.