Cermak Shopping Plaza
What do 8 cars on a spike, the pellet of a pinto, an illuminated tree, and a moonstone all have in common? Well, not a lot I guess…however, you will find all of these pieces of art in the Cermak Shopping Plaza in Berwyn Illinois. Berwyn a near-west suburb of Chicago built a state of the art shopping plaza in the 1950’s. As well as great shopping the planners decided to feature artistic pieces throughout the plaza. The mastermind behind all the artistic additions to the shopping plaza was David Bermant. Bermant was an all around art lover who in 1980 commissioned a three-story 60-ton statue of a pork chop composed of hundreds of miscellaneous metal parts discarded from other uses, materials included car wheels and different appliances. This monster project was called “Big Bil-bored” The citizen’s of Berwyn were less then pleased by this new additive to the shopping plaza. Amid calls for the sculptures removal it remained a stunning tribute to pork chops…. made of metal… mainly because the ground it was built on was private property owned by David Bermant.
It has been said that man cannot survive on meat alone…such was the case when Mr. Bermant decided there needed to be more sculptures. Citizens of Berwyn looked on in Horror as artist Dustin Schuler oversaw the design of “spindle” a towering spike in the ground holding together 8 automobiles like motor city shish ka bob. “You may recognize this work which has been featured in many films, most commonly a brief spot in the Saturday Night Live produced movie Wayne’s World. Spindle continues to stand today as a preverbal middle finger to close minded conservative individuals who would rather not have to contemplate the meaning of art.
There are many other pieces of art in the shopping plaza, although on a much smaller scale. There’s The Pinto Pelt, another interesting automotive piece by Shuler, which consists of the hood, trunk side portions, and roof of a yellow pinto car, displayed on a wall much like that of an animal pelt would be displayed by a proud hunter. The drum yard is a courtyard type sitting area consisting of hollow objects, which produce sound when struck. There is also the “Good time clock”, a Rube Goldberg looking device that displays the time while going through sporadic odd movements of all its arms and devices.
Some pieces of art are sadly no longer present like the hug pork chop “Big Bil-bored”… removed and relocated to another area due to structural concerns in 1993. The artistic mastermind and all around lover of new ideas, David Bermant passed away in 2002, leaving behind a wonderful tribute to modern art and freethinking as well as pretty decent shopping. In an early interview Bermant said, “It is the art of our time which will endure”. In a world where we can so easily fall into a rut, it’s necessary to stop and take note of new ideas and artistic expression. If you’re ever around Chicago and feel like stopping to smell the roses…. don’t…instead pack up the car and head to Berwyn, Illinois where you can contemplate 8 cars impaled upon a spike protruding from the earth. Roses are nice…but art is nicer.
It has been said that man cannot survive on meat alone…such was the case when Mr. Bermant decided there needed to be more sculptures. Citizens of Berwyn looked on in Horror as artist Dustin Schuler oversaw the design of “spindle” a towering spike in the ground holding together 8 automobiles like motor city shish ka bob. “You may recognize this work which has been featured in many films, most commonly a brief spot in the Saturday Night Live produced movie Wayne’s World. Spindle continues to stand today as a preverbal middle finger to close minded conservative individuals who would rather not have to contemplate the meaning of art.
There are many other pieces of art in the shopping plaza, although on a much smaller scale. There’s The Pinto Pelt, another interesting automotive piece by Shuler, which consists of the hood, trunk side portions, and roof of a yellow pinto car, displayed on a wall much like that of an animal pelt would be displayed by a proud hunter. The drum yard is a courtyard type sitting area consisting of hollow objects, which produce sound when struck. There is also the “Good time clock”, a Rube Goldberg looking device that displays the time while going through sporadic odd movements of all its arms and devices.
Some pieces of art are sadly no longer present like the hug pork chop “Big Bil-bored”… removed and relocated to another area due to structural concerns in 1993. The artistic mastermind and all around lover of new ideas, David Bermant passed away in 2002, leaving behind a wonderful tribute to modern art and freethinking as well as pretty decent shopping. In an early interview Bermant said, “It is the art of our time which will endure”. In a world where we can so easily fall into a rut, it’s necessary to stop and take note of new ideas and artistic expression. If you’re ever around Chicago and feel like stopping to smell the roses…. don’t…instead pack up the car and head to Berwyn, Illinois where you can contemplate 8 cars impaled upon a spike protruding from the earth. Roses are nice…but art is nicer.
posted by travis at 10:00 AM
1 Comments:
Art, like oxygen, is completely necessary to the survival of the human race. Nice entry, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
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