State of the Art

Santa Barbara hosts an outdoor sculpture exhibition on State Street every year, aptly titled "The State of the Art Gallery." I attended the opening a couple of weeks ago on a brilliant late summer afternoon. You can read more about it at http://www.sbartscommission.org/public.html

One of the pieces was created by my sculpture professor, Matt Furmanski (the guy in the shades with a microphone, talking about the work on opening day). Matt does a lot of really cool work with a very industrial flavor - lots of precision engineered metal and tight craftsmanship, often rendered in a way that creates a conversation with our art history and literary heritage. This piece is called "Crossroads Oracle: A Lantern for Diogenes." It looks like a modified crosswalk post, complete with buttons, except the buttons don't activate the crosswalk, they activate recordings of thought provoking questions. Question asking is a big part of my work also, so you can imagine how much I enjoy this piece. What were the questions? You'll have to go hear for yourself... half the fun is being put on the spot in the middle of the sidewalk!

The piece is at the intersection of State and Ortega. It and the rest of the collection will be on display untill November 17 - and they are well worth a day trip up the coast to visit.