CA-Controversy erupts over city park AIDS memorial shaped like a 9 foot $#@!

[Anti Federalist]

https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/stat...72902706921690

[Anti Globalist]

This is going to cause a hole lot of controversy.

[Valli6]

Here's where you can donate to the project:
https://psaidsmemorial.org

The sculpture, to be carved out of limestone by internationally renowned Palm Springs artist Phillip K. Smith III, will be gifted to the city and people of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. The sculpture will have maximum impact in the Downtown Park by adding great beauty and providing the opportunity for reflection and remembrance. An HIV educational component, including prevention, diagnosis and treatment options is also being planned.

Having been given the green light by city council, it is now the goal of the Palm Springs AIDS Memorial Sculpture Task Force to raise the funds necessary to create and install the memorial sculpture.
https://psaidsmemorial.org

I'm not yet convinced this isn't a joke.

From the Artist – Phillip K. Smith, III

...It is an artwork that is meant to be tactile — encouraging touch to facilitate connection and engagement. AIDS is about people and the artwork has been scaled to be at the human scale. The circular, torus shape inspires a connected, round, corner-less form that provides space for the community and the individual across its surface.

The community “face,” composed of a series of varied concentric carved circles that are smooth, flat, angular, matte, satin, and gloss, evokes the quilt of humanity that is touched by AIDS. Extending across this varied topography is a series of precise, matte, carved lines representing the “aberration” in the community fabric that has bonded us together. The “individual” face is conceived as a series of smooth undulating “fins,” like water lifting. These fins are a metaphor for grief, love, hope, and time. The form of the artwork itself has a concave and convex flex to it as the community face seems to outstretch and envelope the viewer, while the individual face seems to extend outward at the center towards the viewer.

The opening at the center is at eye level and allows a view through – a connection, a sense of hope, a view beyond what is directly in front of you. Most importantly, it serves as the connective surface that bonds the community and the individual together. It will be a natural place to put one’s hand, acknowledging one’s role in grief, hope, love, and community.

It's "torus" shaped.

Come See the Big Bunghole!
by Lushington D. Brady 21 September, 2023

...The “concentric circles” are on the front. From the back, though… a giant, ring-shaped object, with a rugose surface...
https://thebfd.co.nz/2023/09/21/come...e-big-bunghole

Suggested companion piece:
(Paris, 2014 - supposedly it's a tree)

[Valli6]

Okay, I see how this artist’s work was chosen. It’s due to his father’s control and connections.

Phillip K. Smith, Jr., is President and Chief Operating Officer of Sunrise Companyhttps://www.sunriseco.com , a company which has been building resorts and country clubs in the area for decades - playgrounds for the elites. Before that he was a partner at a law firm and specialized in real estate development. He sits on a bunch of boards in and around Palm Springs. https://www.sunriseco.com/our-team

The “Task Force” that chose this sculpture is just a bunch of self-important, wealthy clowns who are likely pals of (and/or sit on the same boards as) the artist’s father. https://psaidsmemorial.org/task-force

It’s not a joke - just the usual money laundering through public art that the public never asked for! I see the donation page now claims “Revised design coming soon” but all the same $#@! sculpture photos remain.

What a racket!