I really love public art and I love finding it in unexpected places. These bronze sculptures in Morton Park are so interestingly pretty. The faces are all the same and are of the Chinese artist, Yue Minjun. As you look at the pictures you can see each face is set in hysterical laughter and the eyes are closed on each figure. If you get close enough to the face you can actually count all 32 teeth. The actual title of the installation is A-maze-ing Laughter and it is definitely worth checking out.
The statues were actually only supposed to be on loan as a part of the public art that was displayed during the 2010 Olympics but after the artist saw pictures of how people were interacting with his statues, he agreed to let the statues be purchased at a reduced rate of 1.5 million dollars (down from 5 million) and now the statues are a permanent fixture in Vancouver.
Right after I took this picture my right shoe came off as I was trying to walk and get closer to the sculptures. I was wearing my silver slip-on flats and as you can see the ground was pure mud as it had rained really hard the day before. And then the mud started seeping through my left shoe so I had to be quick about snapping these pictures so I could go and clean my feet (I had my wet ones in my purse, you should always carry those when you travel). Have you ever walked around with wet, muddy feet? It’s not pretty.
Have you ever seen public art that makes you stop and pay it some attention?