I’ve already put up a few of these. The lobster in Sandakan came close to being the worst, I reckon. Jennifer Fallon had some success at finding some wonderful monstrosities in Australia, too. Try her blog entries for November 2006.
Before you read any further, take a good look at this pix. What do you reckon it is? A crumpled up chessboard? A piece of modern art made of scrap metal? Discworld on the back of Great A’Tuin upsidedown? Noah’s ark as it might appear to an artist under methadone treatment?
I reckon anyone would be hard put to find one as, um, boringly unattractive as this one, found between Kuala Penyu and Papar in Sabah. I suspect it is supposed to portray the local version of a panama hat. Either that or a rather odd cake on a plate.
And whoever commissioned a sculpture of a panama hat needs to be banned from ever being involved in any kind of landscaping decisions for the rest of their life.
Reminds me of:-
1) childhood memories of hats worn to weddings by senior female relatives … along with large black-and-white dog-tooth patterned crimplene. Hmm.
2) gimmicky roadside advertising in the USA, going back a couple of decades.
3) entries for the notorious (UK) Turner Prize for modern art.
If Art is about communication, I do wonder what the sculptor is trying to say … other than: You too can con RM 250,000 out of the State.
You and I are obviously in the wrong business…
I like it. I think it has charm and whimsy. It’s kitsch. It has a sense of humour. It’s silly. Go silly!
Silly and kitsch is fine the first time around. But having to drive past the same roundabout every day on the way to work, for example? No thanks!!