Pentagon Art: $600,000 Gurgling Toad Sculpture
 

$600,000 federal money for a friggin toad - why am I not surprised?



Pentagon Art: $600,000 Gurgling Toad Sculpture
By PAUL BEDARD

A $600,000 frog sculpture that lights up, gurgles "sounds of nature" and carries a 10-foot fairy girl on its back could soon be greeting Defense Department employees who plan to start working at the $700 million Mark Center in Alexandria, Va. this fall. That is unless a new controversy over the price tag of the public art doesn't torpedo the idea.

Decried as wasteful spending that will be seen by just a couple thousand of daily workers who arrive on bus shuttles, foes have tried to delay the decision, expected tomorrow, April 1. But in an E-mail, an Army Corps of Engineers official said that the decision can't be held up because it would impact completion of the huge project.

The City of Alexandria just announced that there are four works of art being considered and that a final decision needs to be made fast. The artwork was put on display for public comment from March 24 to today. The Alexandria News first reported the hasty announcement to decide a winner.

The schedule surprised some who thought that the costly artwork project was on the "back burner," according to critic Donald Buch, a member of the mayor's advisory committee overseeing the Mark Center project. "What's the rush?" he asked.

Buch says he's not opposed to art, just high-priced works that won't be seen by many. He estimates that only 2,500 will see the artwork every day as they use the bus transfer station at the Mark Center. "Who the heck is going to see it," he asked. "To spend six hundred grand to amuse the same people every day is nuts."

The Mark Center is one of the facilities that thousands of defense workers will be reporting to as part of the Base Realignment and Closure plan, or BRAC, that is shifting workers around Virginia and Maryland. The BRAC plan itself has been criticized as wasteful.

The four art proposals for the bus terminal include works for a wall and sculpture. But the one drawing most attention is the fairy and frog from artist Cheryl Foster. Her proposals describes the sculpture this way: "A 10-foot fairy, using an American Toad as 'transportation,' scurries to the entrance of the station. The interior of the toad is illuminated and the sounds of nature emanate from his throat." She said that nature inspired her.

Buch suggested instead that the Corps should consider a nature park or water feature, not a toad.

According to the Corps, the artwork was the city's idea. A city official, however, said that Alexandria officials didn't demand art, but just asked that public artwork be included in the structure. What's more, the official said that the $600,000 is federal money, and that no Alexandria funds will pay for the art.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/was...toad-sculpture

Stupid is as stupid does.

That is ridiculous.

How about a surplus tank?
 

How about a surplus tank?

Or an Iraq war prize tank or APC?

Well, we could always name it the TOC Toad.

Nice artwork. Seems a bit expensive...even in this era of anything to stimulate the hell out of the economy at the taxpayer's expense - but I'd have to see the itemized cost breakdown and going market rates for such works to really offer much of an opinion on it.

Anybody ever read about the controversies over the Washington Monument, and the Vietnam and WW2 Memorials? ;)

2,500 people per day seems like quite a few gawkers to appreciate a sculpture like that one to me.

And hey - what's a mere $600k amid the likes of all this DOD stimulatin' fever...

Despite improvements, more than half of the Pentagon’s big weapons systems still cost more than they should, with management failures adding at least $70 billion to the projected costs over the last two years, government auditors said Tuesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/bu...0military.html

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

Oh, I see, it's FEDERAL money.
You know, that imaginary money that grows on trees and falls to the ground for anyone to recover.

Not to be confused with American tax dollars, taken from citizens by men with guns who wear shirts reading "IRS" if not paid.

"2,500 people per day seems like quite a few gawkers to appreciate a sculpture ."

I think most of those 2500 people have to walk around this toad when they get off the bus.:D:D

Gypsy,you stole my standard quote that Sally said was strictly for my own personal use........;)

Big Teddy :munchin

Richard,

Seems a bit expensive./quote//Richard/

You aren't serious are you?...............:rolleyes: OVER HALF A MILLION DOLLARS FOR A TOAD................:eek: Give me a break............:mad:

Big Teddy :munchin

Hell, I'll send you the Toad that hangs out under my door at night looking for bugs. We just trained him on the CONOP process and are doing the MDMP training tomorrow night. He completed M4 qualification yesterday.

Send me the $600K.....:D

That way we can pay for his security clearance..

*

You owe me a new monitor :D

I approve of the Gurggling Turd Sculpture. They should also put one in front of the capitol building.

Better yet,one for POTUS's desk in the Oval Office...............;)

Big Teddy :munchin

"I approve of the Gurggling Turd Sculpture. They should also put one in front of the capitol building."

At the Capitol it wouldn't be art, it would be just one more Congressmen.:D
__________________

:D Can I pay you a tax?

It's a TOAD,
it carries a 10-foot FAIRY,
it sounds like PISSING,
it's in DC.

What's the problem? It's not like they're tryin' to put it in Amarillo.

And yet another step in "beautifying" the DoD. They're grooming us. Issued smartphones in basic, no more land nav in WLC, shortened training schedules, fairies and frogs for the Dept civilians, does anybody else see the trend??

If they insist on expensive art, why not a tribute to DoD civilians during WWII?

I find myself more and more drawn to the stories of our past wars to remind myself what we, the armed services, used to be. I know there are still a lot of good guys (and gals) among our brothers, but the percentage is dwindling. Now I'm off to bed in a bad mood:mad:.

-out

Looks like then plan was squashed.

Army Scraps $600,000 Toad Art Project
By Paul Bedard
Posted: April 20, 2011

The Army, under public and congressional attack for a $600,000 plan to dress up a bus depot at a new military facility near Washington with three pieces of art, such as a 10 foot-tall fairy riding a gurgling toad, has scrapped the project. Instead, it will go with a simple plan to “enhance the aesthetics” of a concrete wall at the new Mark Center in Alexandria, Va.

The reversal came after Washington Whispers, the Drudge Report, and local media focused on the pricey project and one of the leading contenders for the $600,000, a proposal for two murals and a huge toad and fairy sculpture.

Stunned by the expense, noted government watch dog Sen. Chuck Grassley opened an investigation. Initially an Army official, responding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which heads the $1 billion Mark Center construction effort, defended the $600,000 project, saying it was worth just “0.1 percent of the cost” of the new facility.

But in a second response this week, the Army junked the idea and said it would no longer be purchasing a sculpture like the toad or any of the other three proposals under consideration. “Plans for procuring sculpture are being dropped,” the Army told Grassley.

A pleased Grassley told Whispers, “The Army was ready to spend $600,000 on three pieces of questionable art, just when the country is up to its eyeballs in red ink. With a national debt of more than $14 trillion, we’ve got to make sure spending is in line with the national interest.”

The Mark Center is one of the facilities that thousands of defense workers will be reporting to as part of the Base Realignment and Closure plan, or BRAC, that is shifting workers around Virginia and Maryland. The BRAC plan itself has been criticized as wasteful.

Each of the four art proposals for the bus terminal included two wall murals and a sculpture. The Army budgeted $200,000 each for the murals and sculpture, for a total of $600,000. The one drawing most attention was the fairy and toad from artist Cheryl Foster. Her proposal describes the sculpture this way:

“A 10-foot fairy, using an American Toad as ‘transportation,’ scurries to the entrance of the station. The interior of the toad is illuminated and the sounds of nature emanate from his throat.” She said that nature inspired her.

Local activists complained that spending so much to decorate a bus terminal that just 2,500 would see every day was a waste.

The Army in its letter to Grassley said that they conducted a review of the art project and that no money was spent on it. “As a result of this review, the Army is considering a focus on the initiative to enhance the aesthetics of the long blank concrete wall at the transportation center,” the service added without providing any new cost figures.

In addition to addressing the art project, the Army also updated Grassley on the overall costs of the Mark Center, currently under construction. According to the military, the initial construction contract was $953 million. It has grown to $969 million, plus an additional $38 million has been budgeted for furniture, fixtures, and equipment and another $146 million for information technology. The region lost out on new transportation money for the project under the recently approved fiscal year 2011 federal budget.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/was...ad-art-project

They could pay me the $600,000. and I would go there every day, from 9-5, and paint myself green, and piss in a kiddie pool all day... :D

LOL
 

Grog,

That is funny, but you are not insinuating that you look like a fairy, are you?:D

Only kidding mahn!

Tress

For 600,000 I might be persuaded to strap on a set of wings too. ;)