As luck would have it, the nearly completed LAPD headquarters is right outside my office window, so I've been bird-dogging the project from Day One to make sure taxpayers don't get ripped off. Which brings me to the $500,000 worth of public art that's just been installed on the west side of the building.
The cast-bronze sculptures consist of six large black blobs, with two tall, skinny structures on either side.
I wasn't sure what to make of them, so I went straight to the top: It looks like "some kind of cow splat," said Police Chief William J. Bratton, who sounded as if he were personally insulted by the installation.
Bratton said he first drove past the work and later walked back to see whether "it's as ugly up close as it is when you're driving by."
The answer was yes, and he sounded mad enough to have the artist arrested.
Bratton said he was not alone in his opinion; it was the talk of cops and staffers who already have moved into the new police administration building
"I don't think anybody can figure out" what the shapes are supposed to be, Bratton said. "Bisons and hippos maybe. I haven't the faintest idea what the two tallest things are on either side."
Nor does he understand what any of this has to do with police administration, if anything. "I don't get it," he said. "It's just a shame."
Myself, I didn't see animals when I first looked at the sculptures. Peering down from my third-floor window, I thought they were giant molars. Not a good idea, I thought, to have a bunch of knocked out teeth on the grounds of the cop shop.
When I went outside for a closer look, I realized the molars were actually the torsos of animals with large rumps. Were the cops trying to tell me and my colleagues what they think of The Times, giving us a bunch of derrieres to look at?
Not clear. But the animal on the northern end looked like a pig that had been knocked on its side. You have to wonder how that's going to sit with the LAPD brass.
On the far side of the building I found a bunch of city employees with clipboards and asked about the sculptures. The first guy said it wasn't his department's jurisdiction, and I should check with the Bureau of Engineering. Then a bureau employee showed up and told me it wasn't her deal; I should call the Cultural Affairs Department and ask for Felicia Filer in the public art division.
It's easy to understand how a $300-million building project ended up costing closer to $450 million.
