Four Statues in Aurora

I'm not a big fan
of contemporary American narrative sculpture
because it works like a cartoon in the funny papers.

I.e., once you get the idea,
there's nothing else to look at.

But I do like this one by A. Joseph Kinkel
parked in the front lawn
of the Aurora Regional Fire Museum





Maybe, that's because the fireman
resembles a recently deceased
friend of mine




Or, maybe it's because
I really like this dog,
which would be a good statue
all by itself.




Or, maybe because
this is how I feel
getting up in the morning
rushing out to
deal with my own little fires.




Or maybe because it's a good sculpture.

I certainly like it
a lot more anything else
I could find on the artist's website
most of which feels terminally cute
to me.


**************






This is Preston Jackson's statue
of community activist, Marie Wilkinson .






Opting not to put her up on a pedestal,
instead, she's parked on a bench
in front of the Aurora public library,
inviting the viewer to sit beside her
and have a little chat.










She looks like a sweet, playful,
but also very determined person.










And quite lively,
as projected by Jackson's
somewhat cubist style.







Jackson has an aggressive style of
sharp edges, sinuous lines,
and puffy, balloon like volumes
that seems to recall
the early 20th C.
but not much ever since.










I've seen several
statues-sitting-on-benches,
and usually they seem,
to me,
to have been abandoned there.


But this one rises up
and demands interaction.