Photo by Robert Lowe. Via Flickr.
Public Art in the Second City
WRITTEN BY
Kitty Garner
Second to None
“Let’s be frank, the Bean is hot.”
So boasted the Chicago Tribune in 2006
as Anish Kapoor’s gleaming leguminous
sculpture was unveiled in Chicago’s
Millennium Park. Despite the fact that
the massive mirror-finished piece is
patently bean-like in shape, Kapoor’s
inspiration was liquid mercury rather
than a diminutive vegetable, and the
artist rolls his eyes at the “completely
46
PEACHY
stupid” sobriquet. Instead the Indian
born, London-based artist prefers
Cloudgate, a moniker that is perhaps
too precious for a midwestern venue.
While the official name does mirror
the reflective quality of the sculpture
on a cumulus-laden day, as well as the
artist’s philosophical bent, Chicagoans
are not metaphorical by nature—rather
they are straightforward and call a
spade a spade (or a bean a bean).