From The New York Times
July 8, 2001, Sunday
THE CITY WEEKLY DESK
NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: SOHO; The Old SoHo Rises Up in Protest Over Evicted Sculpture
By DENNY LEE (NYT) 419 words
In the 1970's, a welder named Bob Bolles who created sculptures out of tractor parts and other metal scraps installed 17 of his works on a garbage-strewn traffic triangle in the middle of Broome Street, near West Broadway. Ever since, motorists approaching the Holland Tunnel have been wondering about their origin.
They do not have to wonder anymore. Back in April, workers from the Parks Department pried apart the sculptures, which were badly rusted, and began landscaping a tiny park.
''It was junk,'' Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern said the other day. ''The site had become a shelter for the homeless and a dump site for trash. We wanted to create a new beautiful green space with trees, shrubs and flowers.''
But the removal of the sculptures has angered longtime neighborhood residents, who view the work as nothing less than art, created specifically for the site. One piece, ''The Chicken,'' resembled a large iron rooster with skinny wrenches for feet and auto leaf springs for tail feathers.
''They symbolized a time in SoHo's history,'' said Sean Sweeney, director of the SoHo Alliance, a community group. ''The area was so deserted that an artist can just take over a public space without getting city bureaucrats involved. You can't do that any longer.''
Kenn Reisdorff, owner of Kenn's Broome Street Bar, which overlooks the traffic triangle, put it this way: ''SoHo was a place for artists. Now, it's a place for anyone with a brand name and shoes to sell.''
Friends recalled Mr. Bolles, who died a decade ago, as a struggling but spirited artist who would idle in bars and hawk his creations to strangers to pay for beer and rent.
''A lot of his art wasn't great, but some of it was,'' Mr. Reisdorff said.
The sculptures are in storage on Randalls Island. In response to the outcry, Mr. Stern said the department may return one or two of the sculptures to the center of the spruced-up triangle, to be displayed in rotation with other artists' works. Selecting the artists might involve an arts organization.
As for the remaining sculptures, Mr. Stern said, ''If people want junk, they can put it in their backyards.'' DENNY LEE
