For the second time in recent years, public art is proving controversial in Evanston, where one official questioned whether a sculpture of two figures perched atop a garage suggests a death leap.
“I know there are some who will love it and some who will just hate it,” said Ald. Ann Rainey (8th). “The artwork implied to me a potential suicide.”
The City Council agreed to spend $105,000 on “Encounter,” a sculpture by German artist Hubertus von der Goltz. The work depicting two human figures on opposite ends of a seesaw-like plank will be mounted this year on top of the five-story public garage.
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“Public art is supposed to provoke discussion,” said Jeff Cory, the city’s cultural arts director. “People often change their minds once they have a chance to think about a piece of public art.”
Indeed, Rainey seems to be warming to the piece.
“I find the work very, very exciting, and that is exactly why I voted for it,” she said in an e-mail.
In 2005, a 10-foot-high, stainless-steel abstract called “Penelope” drew mixed reviews, prompting one official to suggest the city sell it on eBay. Instead, it wound up on the southeast corner of Emerson Street and Ridge Avenue.
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