This is a piece of bicycle art that doubles as a bike stand on 4th avenue, right in front of Bison Witches. It is a creation of Bicas, who use broken and old bicycle parts to create art all over the city.
Tucson is a great city for biking. In fact, the Huffington Post has rated a Tucson bike lane as number one by user votes in their "Bike Lanes from Around the World" piece (vote!).
These shapely hunks of metal can be appreciated in many different ways. In fact, the many different ways to enjoy the art is one of the many things I enjoy about the art!
The art promotes bicycling. The merits of bicycling are fairly well known. Public health, the environment, and parking space are amongst the advantaged. In Tucson, you can add community to that list thanks to things like Bicas and the Tuesday Night Ride.
The art promotes recycling. The bike pieces are identifiably junk in their component parts, but their beautiful form as a whole highlights the potential for reusing old scrap, with an emphasis on crap.
The art is functional. Now, I can appreciate art from time to time. However, when it starts taking up my sidewalk space I might start to wonder if the artistic merit outweighs the mild inconvenience of avoiding it. That's not the case here! The art pictured above doubles as a fully functional bike rack, and the bike art trash cans keep the streets clean (while reminding you to recycle that bottle).
The art is nice to look at. You look at it. It looks nice. It reminds you of the beauty of simple machinery. It's reasonably symmetric and thought out.
It's made by Tusconans. You appreciate that they appreciate the community. It reminds you of the wonderful communities here.
Well, I could go on, but I don't want to spoil all the fun of finding new ways to look at the art of 4th avenue and Bicas.
I thought it was interesting that you made the connection between art and community. That piece goes beyond just form and function. It raises awareness and is connected to a community. It is a public piece to it is owned by everyone, which makes a statement about community and BICAS, which is a nonprofit organization. The piece is connected to so many things you mentioned recycling as well. It is a pretty loaded piece if you really break it down and think about it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite pieces of bike art is at Grenada and the train tracks...It's a giant white lattice dome of bike parts put together in this lovely veranda shape...if I were to ever hold a ceremony like a wedding, I think that under that sculpture would be a top pick. I love how I see the expressions of everything BICAS is and stands for in various permutations throughout Tucson, from the amount of people riding fixer-upers and hand-built bikes, to the scupltures throughout the city.
ReplyDeleteThis type of Earth-friendly community-aware business is EXACTLY the wave of the future. It shrinks a seemingly distinct and divided population of the city into a united front with one defined common ground. :) Love that.
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