Most public, institutional sculpture just leaves me cold. I've often felt the committee in Vancouver which oversees this tosh should put someone like Kent Avery on retainer to continue building his impermanent (part of the message) installations at the foreshore in Stanley Park. Whenever he does so, crowds gather, comment, discuss and take pictures. The message is profound, then with a higher high tide or a stiffer stiff wind, the 'canvas' is wiped clean. For those who don't know, (Google it) Avery balances stones in an ever-changing montage of obelisks, juxtaposed against the soaring towers of the nearby West End and city centre. Though derived from the immediate environment, Avery's creations are very much at odds with the nature of nature and are soon dashed to bits by elemental forces, evoking insights into the futility of human endeavour and the impermanence of human creation. In the end nature will always win out.
