Art Work at the new Modern Museum in FW

Below are 5 looks at the daring Ode to Rust 'sculpture' at the new Fort Worth Modern Museum...

The week before these photos were taken, 2/22/03, access was blocked by crime scene type tape, barely keeping people from going inside the sculpture. At that time on the ground there were large pieces of flaked off rust that had fallen inside and outside the sculpture. A week later the crime scene tape was gone and a chain link fence now made getting into the falling rust zone impossible. Even with great effort. It appears an attempt has taken place in the past week to remove the flaking rust from the 'sculpture'. Likely with steel brushes. Instead of large flakes laying about as there were the week prior, this week there appeared to be remnants of the sort that happens when you scrape rust off metal. And there no longer were large pieces visible, hanging off the 'sculpture', ready to fall. The flaked off/cleaned off area was much larger than a week prior.

The following 5 views give a good look at the mess...

And then take a look at the Rust Sculpture 2 weeks after these photos were taken

Here we see a sawhorse where last week's crime scene tape blocked entry. Now the entire 'sculpture' is surrounded by a chain link fence.

Piles of rust at the base of the deteriorating 'sculpture'. As you can see, some of the pieces are hardly benevolent dust size. The close up below of one of the larger pieces gives you a good idea why it likely was decided a chain link fence was a good idea while a scraping took place, before the disintegrating metal seriously injured an innocent art lover. However, a Museum spokesperson claims the rust is not a problem, that the chain link fence was in place to facilitate repairs to the barely used interior paving stones. The museum apparently denies that any removal of rusted metal took place, that it is a natural process, that they are cleaning the rust up when it falls...judge for yourself from these photos how believable you find those claims.

Using the camera zoom this is the closest we could get to the inside of the 'sculpture' due to those vexing chain link fence restrictions.  But you can see the large pile of flaked off, or scraped off, rust, pushed up against the walls. 

And here we see a wide angle view of Fort Worth's latest eyesore. With the former holder of the eyesore crown, the former Bank One/Plywood Skyscraper/Tin Can Tower visible in the background....this photo is not too flattering to the much touted new Modern Museum. It sort of looks like a metal shed building in this photo. In reality the building is quite nice.

Now. Do these photos not present a rather strong case that this 'sculpture' has a serious problem? Further evidence? Check out the photos from two week's later...

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