Cloud Gate — Chicago Millennium Park

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Cloud Gate — Artist Anish Kapoor

Cloud Gate, a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park within the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The sculpture and AT&T Plaza are located on top of Park Grill, between the Chase Promenade and McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed "The Bean" because of its bean-like shape. Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It is 33 by 66 by 42 feet (10 by 20 by 13 m), and weighs 110 short tons (100 t; 98 long tons) Said to have been inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture's surface reflects and distorts the city's skyline. Visitors are able to walk around and under Cloud Gate's 12-foot (3.7 m) high arch. On the underside is the "omphalos" (Greek for "navel"), a concave chamber that warps and multiplies reflections. The sculpture builds upon many of Kapoor's artistic themes, and is popular with tourists as a photo-taking opportunity for its unique reflective properties. 

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The sculpture was selected during a design competition. After Kapoor's design was chosen, numerous technological concerns regarding the design's construction and assembly arose, in addition to concerns regarding the sculpture's upkeep and maintenance. Various experts were consulted, some of whom believed the design could not be implemented. Eventually, a feasible method was found, but the sculpture's construction fell behind schedule. It was unveiled in an incomplete form during the Millennium Park grand opening celebration in 2004, before being concealed again while it was completed. Cloud Gate was formally dedicated on May 15, 2006, and has since gained considerable popularity, both domestically and internationally. Wiki

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Charminar @ Hyderbad

Amazing pictures-60 feet tall sculpture of a head

Workers today put the finishing touches to a 60ft-tall sculpture of a head that has been criticised for costing taxpayers £2million. The elongated woman’s face, entitled 'Dream' was erected on the site of a former slag heap alongside the M62 motorway in Merseyside.It was created by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa following orders by St Helens Borough Council to rival Gateshead's Angel of the North.


The sculpture, which will be unveiled next month, was constructed like a puzzle using 90 pieces of pre-cast concrete mixed with marble.Each piece has been painstakingly winched into place at a rate of two a day.The head, whose eyes are closed in a dream-like state, was created in response to the memories of a group of local ex-miners from the former Sutton Manor Colliery as part of Channel 4’s The Big Art Project.Situated close to Junction 7 of the M62, Dream is intended as a gateway feature for both Merseyside and Greater Manchester, as well as symbolising the regeneration of St Helens.

But its price tag has been controversial – with critics describing the enornmous artwork – built amid a rising unemployment and hardship - as a ‘huge folly’.The Taxpayers Alliance said the money would have been better-spent creating jobs and helping families hit by the recession.Spokesman Mark Wallace told the Daily Telegraph: ‘£2million is a huge amount of money at the best of times.‘But in the middle of a recession, when people are struggling to make ends meet, it's obscene to spend it on this huge folly.


Spokeswoman for the 'Dream' project, Catherine Braithwaite said: ‘The decision to erect the sculpture was not taken lightly and consultation took over three years. The end result will be amazing.’And Council leader Brian Spencer, himself a former Sutton Manor Colliery worker, said: ‘It’s an incredible sight witnessing the birth of this amazing new art work.‘It will put St Helens on the map and provide a landmark sense of welcome and arrival for the region as a whole for generations to come.

Mr. Plensa met with former miners and the local community to discuss their ideas for the art work, which is one of seven linked projects across the UK.The progress of each of the projects will be broadcast on Channel 4 next month.Gary Conley, who was 17 years old when he began working in the colliery from 1974 to1991, was among the team which nominated the site.Mr Conley, who now works for St Helens Council as a resource manager, said: ‘My ex-colleagues and you have been involved in the process every step of the way.

Buddha statues in Bamiyan province

Among the tallest standing Buddhas in the world, the Bamiyan, Afghanistan Buddhas stood 53 meters (175 feet) and 34.5 meters tall. 

The statues were carved into the sides of the mountains bordering the central province of Bamiyan during the second and third centuries AD.

For centuries they gazed benevolently from their mountain homes as wars raged across the Afghan plains in central Bamiyan province, about 144 km west of Kabul.

But the two massive Buddha statues have become casualties, destroyed by command of the Afghan Taleban in early March 2001.

The Buddhas of Bamyan (Persian: بت های باميان - but hay-e bamiyaan) were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2500 meters (8,202 ft). Built in 507, the larger in 554, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art.

The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.

The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.

They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were "idols" (which are forbidden under Sharia law). International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban and of Islamism. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.

Buddha statues in Bamiyan province

Spirit of Houston-World's Tallest Woman Statue

 At 555 feet, the World's Tallest Woman, planned for Houston, Texas

by Michels Bollinger, Inc.

Imagine the future... your first visit to Houston in the new century, lured here to view a brave new monument, the heroic "Spirit of Houston", a grand symbol of friendship. You have seen the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and the great St. Louis Arch... famous icons all, now, as you glide into Space City on Loop 610, SHE comes boldly into view! The world's tallest woman... a chrome Sky Goddess, 555 feet tall, soaring above the HOUTX skyline, her arms raised in a future-friendly embrace.

In a quick series of tourist post cards, we see HER at home in Houston, eye-to-eye with erect downtown skyscrapers, watching over her freeways at rush hour, and dancing above the verdant glades of Memorial Park... She's ubiquitous, eyes scanning the horizon, head in the clouds, feet poised delicately on her Houston turf. She's confident, a woman of the future, independent and free... welcoming all to her dynamic city. As they say in art, architecture, and industrial design... "it's all about the curve". From cars and freeways to the female form, it was the concept of curvilinear beauty that inspired Doug Michels (an architect), Peter Bollinger (an industrial designer), and Cybele Rowe (a sculptor), to create their visionary silver icon for new century Houston.

Powerful cultural icons demand originality and true beauty to INSPIRE memory and meaning! As a symbol of the future, the Spirit of Houston is both "prescient" and traditional... a proud TEXAS ICON, steeling beauty in the bright moonlight above Houston.
 

 Credits:

SPIRIT OF HOUSTON
monument designed by

Michels Bollinger, Inc.
--Doug Michels   (email:michels@uh.edu)
--Peter Bollinger
--Cybele Rowe