I have been sitting on these for a while (notice there are still no leaves on the trees).

Was hoping the PD would have had an article about so I could piggy back on it.

Oh well - figures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I absolutely support and respect the sentiments behind this, and the memories of fallen firefighters. However, that memorial is even harder on the eyes than that cancer survivor memorial in University Circle.

I agree.

 

do you (anyone) know what the original piece was supposed to look like.

I remember reading about the artist dying when a piece of his work fell on him before this was complete.

I am just wondering if they stuck with his concept all the away, or if it was reworked a bit.

I believe I read that what is there was entirely his concept, and that it was just some minor work that another artist did to complete the piece.  And I have to agree with Mayday.  Cleveland firefighters definitely deserve a memorial for risking and sometimes losing their lives so that others might live.  It's a shame that this memorial looks like childrens' action figures blown to up to larger than life proportions.  It's very literal minded.  And very bad.

I would add it is, in its current inception, not the place for it either.

Not sure where something like this would look appropriate... but not here.

  Being a firefighter, I am not totally happy with the design either.  The original design was MUCH worse though, it's hard to describe the old one, but believe me...horrible!  As for the location, the Lerner family donated land and money for this project(so I have been told).  I wish there would have been more photos of the base of the memorial because it list all the firefighters names who have died in the line of duty in the city of Cleveland. 

 

  I would have preferred seeing a more realistic and lifelike scene, but I think the artist was trying to convey the larger than life figures as just that...and the fire as an almost monster like hand as a living "beast".  I guess overall it IS nice to have a memorial.

Its the thought that counts

^Yeah, but that's what people say during the holidays when they get a fruitcake!

as a firefighter's son, i can appreciate the thought.

 

yeah its gawdy awful literal and weirdly placed, but i like it because all the little kids will get a big kick out of it. us grownups can handle it ok.

walking by it the other day one of my friends described it as "very east 4th street"...

 

this thing would be fine minus the wild colors/materials

Ha, yeah the East 4th St. flames motif is a little goofy.  Perhaps we need a 70's Camaro and some skulls worked into the neighborhood logo, to.

and why the hell didnt day-glo paint sponsor it? talk about a missed pr opportunity.

Good sentiment, gaudy results.  I like the simpler Columbus Firefighters Memorial because when you see it your thoughts go straight to the firefighter's sacrifices, not to what the memorial itself looks like.

^ well of course you do - lol!

Wow,that memorial is really hard on the eyes.  Firefighters are always thought of as heroes, but the memorial cheapens that sentiment and makes it cartoonlike.  Who approved this?  Maybe after the day-glow colors fade in coming years it will be viewable, but I doubt it.  Art appreciation is very subjective, but ugly and inappropriate is just ugly and inappropriate.  My two cents.

Let's be honest, this "sculpture" is ghastly. If the creator actually attended an art degree-granting institution, it should be stripped of its accreditation! Until now, I thought the most hideous piece of public art was the metronome overlooking Union Square in New York: http://twi-ny.com/metronome.jpg.

http://metronome.related.com/

There is another firefighters memorial, this one on Rocky River Drive overlooking the valley. It was commemorated a few years ago. Much classier than this one....

^ are you sure thats a fire memorial, I've always thought that was for police.

It is actually for fire and police...it was privately funded and is a memorial for the uniformed servants from West park who have died in the line of duty.

Where's Cleveland Public Art when you need them? ;)