Appleton art: THEB (Transparent Hollow Empty Boxes) finds temporary home, controversy at Mead Park
Duke Behnke, Appleton Post-CrescentPublished 8:00 a.m. CT Oct. 19, 2018
Question: What is that object at the east end of the College Avenue bridge in Appleton? I certainly hope it didn't cost city taxpayers any dollars. A nice group of trees would look a lot better in this grassy area than that thing.
Answer: The welded steel artwork at Mead Park was created by Jeffrey G. Boshart of Brown Deer. It is titled "THEB: Stacked.
"THEB (pronounced Theeb) stands for Transparent Hollow Empty Boxes. It is part of a series that Boshart has been creating the past few years.
"These large-scale installations allow the viewer to see both the sculpture and the environment they are in," Boshart said, according to information on the smartphone app Otocast. "The observer can focus on the artwork or see through it to the surroundings. However, the dynamic compositions are very difficult to ignore."
"THEB: Stacked" is part of the Sculpture Valley's ACREofART project. It is sponsored by AZCO Inc. and will remain in place for two years, after which it will be available for purchase. The list price is $6,000.
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Appleton granted permission to install the artwork on park property, but no tax money was spent on the artwork's creation or installation."Art is something the city is really striving to include in areas around the city," said Chad Doran, Appleton's communications coordinator.
Appleton officials began fielding complaints about the artwork as soon as it was installed in August.
Doran recalled a couple of the more memorable comments he's heard.
"There's a twisted pile of steel over there. Is somebody going to clean that up?"
"Hey, I think something fell off the back of a truck."
"Art is different for everybody," Doran said.
Alex Schultz, executive director of Sculpture Valley, a nonprofit arts advocacy group in the Fox Cities, knows public art is more likely to draw complaints than praise, so he expected some criticism of Boshart's work. The same thing happened with Ryan M. Lamfers' "Make It Rain" sculpture that was placed in front of the Brin Building in downtown Menasha.
“I would feel bad if no one said anything about the works that we're putting up because it would mean we're not having any kind of impact," Schultz said. "A little controversy is not a bad thing.”
Boshart said "THEB: Stacked" will change with the weather and seasons.
"The surface rust forms a rich, soft-looking orange-brown patina, and the hollow tubes redirect rainwater turning the sculpture into a multitude of small fountains in wet weather," he said on the Otocast app. "Snow totally transforms the work into a high-contrast three-dimensional drawing."The free Otocast app describes each of the sculptures that are a part of the ACREofART project. It identifies the title, artist, sponsor and location of each piece and provides a statement by the artist.