Purge Sculpture

Filed under ‘random’ this sculpture was spotted the previous weekend along the waterfront just north of the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle.  A pile of vegetated ‘cans’ with the word ‘Purge’ punched into them – alas a web search has yielded little in terms of info beyond this.  Anyone have any info?

UPDATE (02/12/14):  Buster Simpson emailed with this information describing the background on the Purge Sculpture!

“The galvanized steel  barrels or oil drums  are the work of Buster Simpson,   The work is part of an ongoing community streetscape   project,    Growing Vine Street.   The barrels  are placed on both sides of Vine Street and  serve as a entry marker,   threshold or gateway  as one enters Vine Street from  the Alaskan Way  waterfront  and  connects a community garden,  Cistern Steps and Beckoning Cistern.

The barrels are strapped to galvanized steel pallets   implying product in transit and a reference to the Seattle working waterfront.  The planters are  sited adjacent  the historic location of the American Can Company  and next to the RR tracks  where now shipping containers roll by.    PURGE is pierced into the base   of the barrels,    and allow excess water to drain,  perhaps purged  by plants and the limestone within  neutralizing the acid rain.

These barrels were originally shown at the Capp Street Project,  in 1993  at an alternative art space,  in San Francisco  as part of a urban watershed reclamation installation.”

 

(all images copyright L+U)

9 thoughts on “Purge Sculpture

  1. No info to share, but there is something profoundly interesting about that sculpture. I find it interesting that graffiti artists are already tagging it, perhaps adding depth to the meaning of it. I wonder if the artist intended that it become an urban canvas as well? Thanks for sharing.

    -inContour
    http://www.inContour.com

  2. Never seen a garbage can look so cool. Reminds me that you can take something pretty ugly and turn it into something green – like shipping containers being used for the framework of “green homes”.

    Could you take another photo of this sculpture? Want to see how it grows.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.