Sculptures on the campus of Michigan State University cater to different tastes.
I am taking lessons in Throwing Off My Chains. 
(Andromeda by Anthony Frudakis)
Sparty inspires the college football team (photo by jstealth03).
Animal lovers enjoy a silvery hand carrying an eagle, an African cow and a dog (obscured by the cow) at the Vet School (by Jim Cunningham). 
Finally, the performing art center prefers a design based on inanimate objects (by Mel Leiserowitz). 
Sculpting was done by Michigan artists, some associated with MSU.
Much as I love abstraction, I’m trying unsuccessfully to find something interesting in that last sculpture. I’d be tempted to weld on a few holds and cross-bars to make it a climbing place for kids. Can anyone help me out?
Birgit and Steve:
What kills that last sculpture for me is the little curlicue of metal that stabilizes the circular form. I think that the artist may have had a dynamic interplay in mind, something to do with balanced instabilities – the interdependence that marks performing arts. But, instead, it comes across as playground equipment. You have to go back to Anthony Caro or Serra to see how some of these issues have been resolved.
The Andromeda figure fascinates me as she appears to be reaching toward a tree.
“Balanced instability” is what I like about the Andromeda. Such a light and free feeling from a big hunk of metal.
Jay,
Trees! That is what attracted me to East Lansing, bigger oak trees than the one shown here towering over the houses. – I should not have cropped the first picture so much on the left.
Steve,
What I also like about the Andromeda statue that the ‘light and free feeling’ can exist next to the honky tonk shops on Grand River Ave.
Jay and Steve,
Not having studied sculpture, I am glad that you confirm my lay opinion with respect to the last one shown here.
Birgit:
Perhaps Steve and I registered a “slay” opinion about el numero tres.
The honky tonk shops that you mention lead to a question: is that :”flat sushi”? Flounder, maybe?
Jay,
Inland, I stay away from raw fish. Next week, at the North Sea, I will enjoy flounder but there, it is fried.
P.S. I finally got the el numero tres. I am always slow about jokes as David can attest. As we say in German, now, ‘der Groschen ist gefallen’ (the penny has dropped).
Birgit,
You have to watch Jay — his jokes sometimes sneak up on me and it will be days later that I slap my forehead and say, “had again!” But then I remember that the jokester needs the patsy, and I always make a good one for him. Besides, he has a good eye and and interesting mind and does good art, so his jokes can be allowed as his one character flaw.
That said, I must attest to a fondness for the cow/eagle sculpture — something about the corniness and all that gleaming stainless steel makes me want to laugh out loud. And that’s part of what I go to art for — for things that take me away from the seriousness (and static nature) of things like the ponderous inanimate (definitely not animated) object.
June,
Thank you. I am glad that I belong to A&P – birds of the same feathers.
Is Sparty going to get away? Is he impervious?
June:
Thanks. Could this have anything to do with Christmas?
Well, you have to cut Sparty some slack since he’s probably WPA/worker dude era, and he is mystified by the jet trails in the sky behind him (“What the hell was that?”), since jets did not exist when he popped out of his mother’s forge.
I’m a bit embarrassed to note that Sparty, from the angle of the photograph and the scarcity of detail, seems to be concealing something important behind his left hand. I mostly resist temptations to sniggering, but…..
Martha,
Thank you for explaining Sparty to us. Not having grown up in this country I did not know about the WPA. Sparty is indeed part of the ‘The WPA: A Legacy of Art and Craft’ at MSU.
June,
I also have been smiling about Sparty’s lower aspects. I suspect that it not modesty but rather lack of genitalia – he is not a Greek god. I will take a look next week.
For some fun statues, check out
http://bestpicsaround.com/pic-349-Amazing-Statues
Steve,
They are wonderful!