Guerrilla-art sculpture appears overnight in Gas Works

In what was advertised as a gift to the citizens of Seattle, a gold-colored sculpture by an unknown artist turned up in Gas Works Park overnight Monday.

The papier-mâché guerrilla art sculpture consists of several pieces: a full-size gold-colored man standing on the waterfront surrounded by what appear to be shells, some with the heads of people emerging from them.

"Anew is gifted to the citizens of Seattle in the spirit of awakening," the artist wrote in a plaque attached to the sculpture. "Each of us has shells to break through, parameters to look past and wills to exercise. Arise and stand and then start moving."

As a P.S., the artist wrote, "If still here I will remove once the rains return."

Guerrilla art is nothing new to Seattle. In January 2001, a gray steel slab, the "monolith," appeared in Seattle's Magnuson Park. But a few days after it was discovered, someone stole it and somehow placed the 350-pound structure on Duck Island in the middle of Seattle's Green Lake.

Sandor Szabados, walking his dog in Gas Works Park on Tuesday, stopped to admire the sculpture. "This is allegorical," he said. "Grown people in their psychological shells become full persons. I saw it and immediately understood what it is, it's about breaking through nakedness and having to start anew, like the Age of Aquarius."

It's not known when the sculpture was erected, but a parks department worker said it wasn't there when he left Gas Works on Monday afternoon.

The Parks Department said it will let the sculpture remain in the park until noon on Thursday and then crews will remove it. The artist is welcome to retrieve it from the parks department, said spokeswoman Dewey Potter.

"This way people who want to see it can see it," she said, adding that the sculpture can't remain in the park any longer because the artist didn't go through the permitting process.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054

or sgilmore@seattletimes.com