sculpture key west

Sculpture Key West (SKW) is an annual Keys event dedicated to celebrating the arts. An outdoor event, Sculpture Key West features the work of artists from around the world at 4 distinctive venues. . .
Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, the Key West Garden Club at West Martello Tower, the KeyWest Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden and 540 Greene Street. (sorry, no website)

As I see it, the function of art is to draw the participant (I do believe viewing or listening to any form of art is a participatory action) to draw the participant, at least temporarily, out of their prescribed mindset. (although sometimes the impression can be lasting).
It can bring a smile, enrage passions, inspire new thoughts, inform or even confuse the holy hell out of you.

I experienced that gamut of motivations recently when I took advantage of my new found "auto-mobility" to visit a few of the SKW venues.
Here's a sampling of what I found. . .

Fort Zachary Taylor

Square Wave, Bill Wood

Photosynthesis, Myung Gyun You

Angel, Luciano di Rosa

Contemporary Cannon, Tom Risser

Hard Place, Jiwan Noah Singh

Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden

Diaspora Series, Lori Nozick

Anima, Susan Bennett

No Longer Waiting, Roberta Marks

Key West Garden Cub @ West Martello Tower

Wall of Wisdom, Susan Johnson

Rasta Rooster, Bounce Margil

Angeline, Lynn Umlauf

Templates of Clouds, Maja Godlewska

Now this is one of those pieces of art that informs.
(at least, it taught me something new)

Laid out in a large circle were better than a dozen old album covers that had been transferred onto tiles at actual album cover size. They were records from the 50's & 60's by a dude called "The Mighty Sparrow".
Well, I'd never heard of him so, being the kind of inquisitive mind I am, I looked him up. . .

Sparrow Come Back Home, Buckley & Mark Harris

. . .and this cat is truly, "The King of Calypso"!
Check out these 3 links I've attached.
You're gonna love this guy!!

TEN TO ONE IS MURDER

DE BOTH AH DEM
CONGO MAN

another key west sculpture garden

Turn any corner in Key West and you're very likely to "stumble upon" outdoor sculpture.

Whether they're entries for "Art In Public Places" or "Sculpture Key West" or privately held collections like "Nancy's Secret Garden" or these pictured here at
"The Gardens Hotel".

I found my way to the Gardens Hotel a little over a week ago to cover a political rally.
After spending a couple of hours covering the event, hobnobbing with any number of politicos, pundits and the like, my attention shifted and, as is my way, I wandered off.

I found myself in the quiet and secluded luxury of the Gardens' garden and under the tropical canopy, in and among the ground greenery, I found yet another Keys eclectic collection of sculpture.
(Well why not? Like I said at the start, turn any corner
in Key West. . .)

the eye of the beholder

The perception of Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
To my artist's eye and open mind, Art is everywhere, either intentionally or incidentally.

side streets

It's been a couple of weeks and hopefully you've been wondering, "why don't he write something?" Well, I've spent the past couple of weeks like I spend the first couple of weeks of every new year. . .
Trying to decide how the hell I'll want to spend the other 50 weeks of the year.

I'm not talking about "resolutions" like quitting smoking or drinking or even over-eating. Frankly, I don't smoke or drink or even over-eat enough to make any of that worthwhile. Besides "resolutions" are Fascist. If you make one, you MUST pull on your metaphysical jackboots and brown shirt and stick to it without compromise or latitude as the days and weeks and months grind on while the universal forces try to trip up your lock-step forward march. If you falter it feels all alone in the world so you join a "support group" of like minded faltering fellows.
"Resolutions" take up a lot of time and energy for about 6 months until, at the fourth of July bar-b-que, you chow down on a rack of ribs, lay back in a lawn chair, spark up a smoke and enjoy the hell at of your first Bud of the year. Then you get to spend the last 6 months of the year feeling the quilt.

But that's not what I'm talking about. . .
Why worry about what you're NOT GOING TO DO with the year when you could be thinking about what you ARE GOING TO DO. . . Probably.

My process starts like a game of 20 questions. . .
• Are you going to need to buy a car this year?
• Will you have to find a new apartment?
• Is it time to say bye-bye to Key West, move to Miami and get a real job?
• Can you break away for a 2 week vacation in California?

. . .and what about new projects?

• Do you want to dedicate 8 months to creating and oversized piece for Sculpture Key West?
• Or is it wiser to invest the time in establishing a profitable internet business?
• Do you feel good about taking the guitar back up on stage?
• Or is this the year you finish writing that damned book?

. . .you get the idea.

The next step in my self imposed process is finding answers to the questions. . .

Now, I'm an agreeable kind of guy so this year, with the exception of finding a real job in Miami, the answer to my questions was "yes". But as agreeable as I might be, I'm also not delusional. I know for sure that the sea is not going to part to clear the way for me work uninterrupted toward my goals. "Face it boy", I remind myself, "in this life, sh*t happens".
So I consider my annual affirmations with that world famous "grain of salt" and accept my choices at the end of my 2 week inquisition as direction.
For the next 50 weeks I'll move along, this way or that, focused on the road ahead but always with a sly eye on the side streets I'm sure to discover along the way.

I'm realizing as I write this that my "process" reads a bit like irresponsibility and it probably is. But, it makes for a more interesting trip and promises an harmonious outcome.
Probably. . .