Stella's "The Town-Ho's Story"
- Artist/Author/Producer: Frank Stella
- Confronting Bodies: Federal Building employees
- Dates of action: Fall 1993
- Location: Chicago, Illinois
- Description of the Art Work
- Frank Stella's sculpture, entitled "The Town-Ho's Story," is a twenty-two
foot high, aluminum and steel sculpture named after a chapter in Herman
Melville's novel, "Moby Dick." The work was commissioned by a 13-member
General Services Administration (GSA) panel consisting of local
politicians, residents, and art professionals but no building employees,
and was installed in the lobby of the Metcalfe Federal Building.
- Description of incident
- Six days after the work was dedicated, Environmental Protection Agency
employee David Schulz began circulating a petition asking for the removal
of the sculpture, stating that the work "was commissioned with no input
whatsoever from [building] agencies and employees," and charging that the
work misrepresents "the missions of the agencies in the Metcalfe
Building, and... the image of the federal government." Schulz, who
claimed that 80% of EPA employees "object" to the work, called the
sculpture "highly inappropriate" and a "pile of junk," whose commission
"reflects poorly on the government." The petition was set out on a table
in the lobby of the building, and after almost two days, 625 signatures
were added.
- Results of incident
- GSA has no plans for removing the work.
Source: Artistic Freedom Under Attack 1994
Record no 212