Getting touchy about art

When it comes to the work of sculptor Richard Serra, one commenter says it's so tough you can sit on it, write on it, pee on it.

"I mean you can graffiti the [bleep] out of it. There's not much you can do to hurt it." That's a raw comment many would find disrespectful. Serra is the one whose rusted sculpture "Wake" has gotten such an impromptu fondling by visitors to Seattle's new Olympic Sculpture Park that officials last week installed a "don't touch" policy.

When I wrote Sunday how people had "doodled" names and smiley faces into the corroded surface of his work, some readers scolded me, saying I had glorified what really is vulgar vandalism.

"It's reprehensible behavior, and it's a shame you tried to use humor to discuss what is a crime," one caller said.

But the comments about how you can graffiti the bleep out of a Serra do come from a knowledgeable source: Serra himself.

He said it to an art magazine called "Coagula."

An interviewer wondered whether it irked him that kids were using one of his sculptures in Germany as a skateboard ramp.

"Look, I'm not precious about my work, " Serra said. "I think when you put it in the public, it has to survive on its own. ...

"And if it's going to be seen as art, that's one thing. If it's going to be seen as an extension of a graffiti wall or a kids' playground, that's another. But neither of those offend me. ... "

He went on to say that this is a feature of public art — that it's not in a museum, it's "off the pedestal" where people "can do what they want with it."

It may get abused, he said, but "it'll also probably provide a way of people acknowledging what the aesthetic is about because people have to confront it every day."

The park's "don't touch Serra" policy struck many readers as too fussy. And not likely to work because Serra's "Wake" is irresistible.

"The [steel] surfaces are tantalizingly tactile. ... Credit Serra for the power of his work," wrote Donn Hogan, a Bellevue architect. "It's definitely the centerpiece and draw of the Olympic Sculpture Park."

I called Serra to see what he thinks of all this. His wife, Carla, answered the phone. She said he wasn't around, but she guessed he wouldn't be pleased to hear people were writing their names into his sculpture. Still, she said, he knows his public works will get handled.

Which is good. Because despite mass publicity in the past four days about the "hands off" policy, the fondling goes on unrestrained.

I was there Tuesday for a half-hour. The usual kids were running about, gliding their hands joyfully along the curvy, corroded surface.

In that short time I counted six adults who ignored the warning signs and caressed the steel.

One banged it lightly with his knuckles, then put his ear to the surface to catch the vibrations.

One piece of graffiti was new since last week. It subversively sums it up. With a finger, someone had scratched out this advice: "DON'T TOUCH!"

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday.

Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.