Guerrilla artist goes public; golden man already taken

The artist who left a sculpture in Seattle's Gas Works Park earlier this week says she was "amazed and overwhelmed" by the response to the art.

"I spent some time both in the afternoon and evening standing with the crowd, watching their reactions, and I am overflowing with joy," said Cyra Hobson, 31, in an e-mail sent Wednesday night.

The Seattle Parks Department said Wednesday it will leave the multipiece sculpture in place until Labor Day rather than removing it today, as had been planned.

What happens after that is a bit up in the air, but it could include at least part of the art going into the trash.

This evening, the standing, gold-colored figure was gone. It's not clear who took it or where it went. Hobson is a Capitol Hill painter who recently began sculpting and has been studying at a local art school and with a blacksmith.

She said the Gas Works sculpture was made of papier-mâché over wooden frames and chicken wire, and the golden men were plaster cast on live models.

Hobson said she placed the sculptures in the park late Monday, with five friends all dressed in black. "There was such a beautiful moment as a friend and I walked there, each laden with one shelled man, the water and the city shining dark before us, and we looked at each other and felt right• "

She said after the pieces were arranged, they all sat down and she read the poem she had attached to the sculpture.

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

The sculpture was displayed at a recent event sponsored by Ignition Northwest, which fosters "radical self-expression, participatory art, and sustainable community," according to its Web site.

"Anew was initially created as a meditation walk through existential awakening for a summer art festival," said Hobson. "The set creates a calm space for us to reflect on our ideals, our lives, and our responsibilities. I wanted to share this space beyond the festival. The small lawn [at Gas Works] was the perfect spot, and standing among them, looking out over the quiet night city reflecting on the water, is incredibly moving."

She wrote that she hopes hundreds of people get to see the sculpture before it is removed.

Hobson said she will be attending an art festival on Labor Day and won't be in Seattle; she said she would pick up the pieces from the Parks Department, but "I'd much rather anyone who wants to take one home on Labor Day to do so."

The city initially planned to remove the sculpture today, but relented after receiving complaints from people who didn't want it taken away.

In an e-mail to the city, Hobson said, "If it's easy for you to trash them then please do, unless you or anyone you know would like to have them around, then do with them what you will. It'll take me a couple of trips to the dump and the thought of doing that myself is kind of heartbreaking. They no longer belong to me, and won't last long anyway. Once the rainy season starts, they'll collapse into themselves."

"It's safe to say she's giving them away," said Dewey Potter, with the Seattle Parks Department. "If there's any pieces left after Labor Day we'll take them."

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com