Why Must Public Art Ridiculously Abstract?

abstract sculpture in Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, Chicago

We have seen it on floors, walls, ceilings, streets, and in front of libraries, institutions, hospitals, police stations, parks, plazas, and any constitutional buildings or open public spaces. Many Public Arts look like as they just fell from the sky on the center of the site. What comes to sense??

Landscape designers and architects are environmental artists in a general sense. The site is the blank canvas and we create an experience for the user by applying our design skills with a practical understanding of building skills. This is an amazing opportunity to manufacture three dimensional theater at its best. However, if we fail to generate a truly creative atmosphere by neglecting site specific analysis, inclusive of opportunities and constraints... only then... does it fall flat as just one more built work that may speak to the intended programming, but does not speak to the spirit of place.

Commissioned public art, more specifically, should be designed to do just that. "Should" is the key, although we have all witnessed projects that have been unsuccessful in that attempt. I believe it is because the commission recipient failed to consider the surrounding built environment as part of his conceptual proposal. He or she also failed to work in tandem with those in charge of the site design.