SFist: What's Going On Here?

May 23, 2008

What's Going On Here?

cupids%20span%20broke.jpg
Photo by Steve Portigal/Flickr

We love--yes, LOVE -- this piece. It positively brims with whimsy.

But what happened? Why is Cupid's Span broken? When will it be fixed? It's been like this for months now.

Speaking of public art, check out the Hayes Valley's latest piece of public art. Wow. As Curbed says, "Tetanus shots for all, kids." And how.

By Brock in Arts+Events | Link | Comments (19) | Recommend this! |

Tags: art, cupid's span, pugblic art

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Comments (19)

[1] | 05/23/08 02:17PM

They've been working on it at night here and there ... I think the work started just before that Olympic Torch thing (whenever that was)

[2] | 05/23/08 02:40PM

a giant Cupid?

[3] | 05/23/08 03:09PM

Donald Fisher forced that gawd-awful piece of crap on our city. Donald Fisher has horrible taste in art and he's an arrogant asshole republican to boot.

[4] | 05/23/08 03:30PM

I concur with ProtestTheFuckingWar. Cupid's Span is a cheap monument to Tony Bennett. It's a hideous, completely shallow piece of public art. It should be immediately destroyed, not just because it was a "gift" of the evil Don Fisher, but because it's an eyesore. Let Chicken John construct a giant junky art car thinger there instead.

[5] | 05/23/08 03:38PM

Ha... whooo Don Fisher = Darth Vader , go back to pushing your homeless carts,

"arrogant asshole republican to boot" Wow you sound so educated, sprouting intellect and able to have rational conversations... stay off the meth buddy!

[6] | 05/23/08 03:49PM

"Let Chicken John construct a giant junky art car thinger there instead."

Yes, because Burning Man shit--and i do mean shit--is so original and richly textured. I'd rather have a bust of Don Fisher there than some elitist BM turd. With all due respect.

[7] | 05/23/08 03:53PM

What's with the Burning Man fixation recently? Isn't it a long way away? (Or is Burning Man always funny?)

[8] | 05/23/08 04:27PM

Burning Man is always funny, particularly when you call it BM. Apparently.

As for the art piece in question, I protest ProtestTheFuckingWar and am angry at The Angry Young Man. I have always liked it - sure it's kind of cheesy, but it's on the fucking Embarcadero, fergodsake. It's not as if it's on some sacrosanct yuppified Mission block -- it's where the baseball fans and tourists go!

[9] | 05/23/08 04:31PM

agreed, aj.

this is a city littered with people who think those diego rivera mural knockoffs that litter SF have importance and/or aesthetic merit. they don't.

church:state::politics:art

[10] | 05/23/08 04:33PM

Oh my goddess, Brock. For someone who acts like he has his thumb all over the pulse of the local cultural "scene", you like totally surprise me. Chicken John is not all Burning Man, he is post-Burning Man. You know nothing.

BTW, I think a giant, Mao sized bust of Don Fisher's withered visage looming above the Embarcadero would be totally AWESOME! Make it of his skag, Doris, and it would be doubly AWESOME!

[11] | 05/23/08 04:35PM

"...post-Burning Man."

jesus. just...wow.

[12] | 05/23/08 05:08PM

TAYM, why put "scene" in question marks?

There actually is a local cultural scene. Or so I've been told.

[13] | 05/23/08 05:46PM

I sorta like it. Not great, but not bad. I really liked the rusty mother and child that used to be where the big spider is now.

[14] | 05/23/08 09:27PM

"Post Burning Man" still depends on "Burning Man."

[15] | 05/24/08 10:51AM

I work along that span of the Embarcadero and they actually sent a company-wide email out about it since so many people were asking.

It's basically just being cleaned / repaired. General maintenance, nothing too dramatic.

[16] | 05/26/08 11:41AM

Brock you're really proving to be a complete moron.

Just because somebody puts an art piece up at Burning Man doesn't mean that Burning Man defines all of their artistic endeavors.

Don Fisher's art is the kind of stuff that corporations and dumb shits like you like. It's bland (lacking any sort of actual intricacy despite being HUGE), it's HUGE just for the sake of being HUGE (super size my combo please, can I get a side of douche bag with that?!), and it's expensive.

Just out of curiosity Brock, consdering all that detail work that exists on the bow and arrow, how come it couldn't have just been a bow and arrow that was 1 foot long instead of 40.

Oh that's right, 1 foot size bow and arrows can be bought anywhere and aren't nearly as profitable to an artist as a 40 foot monstrosity that you pre fabricated in a factory for a much more profitable margin.

[17] | 05/26/08 01:54PM

Wow. No love for Claes Oldenburg in San Francisco? That's sad. I love his mundane stuff-writ large projects.
Well, I did find this artists' statement by Oldenburg and fellow artist Coosje van Bruggen on the piece--it's so happy and PC I would have expected you people would have been all over it. Although, I love the unexpected conjuring of sailing ships...

[18] | 05/26/08 01:55PM

Whoops, here's the site: http://www.oldenburgvanbruggen.com/cupidspan.htm

[19] | 05/27/08 06:19AM

Generati, Brock is not a moron. He's just a bit culturally illiterate. I knew that when he substituted Pippi Longstocking for Wendy Thomas and dismissed every mural in town as a Diego Rivera knock off with no aesthetic merit. He just needs some good, old fashioned education on these things, that's all.