From the Art Underground
Red rubber ball bounces into Menil Park
On Friday, a gigantic, red rubber ball auspiciously appeared in a sprawling oak tree that dominates the park sandwiched between the Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel. The surprisingly (and joyous) public art intervention is the local incarnation of the global artwork, RedBall Project, by Kurt Perschke.
The quotidian red ball has previously appeared in hidden urban corridors across continents, from an archway attached to Barcelona's oldest edifice to the National Theater at Chian Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. Other U.S. visits have included Chicago's Millenium Park, an Art Deco concert hall in Portland and Grand Rapids, Mich.'s Rosa Parks Circle.
So, what is the intrinsic artistic meaning of this oversized, quotidian object? Explains the artist on his website, redballproject.com, "Through the RedBall Project I utilize my opportunity as an artist to be a catalyst for new encounters within the everyday. Through the magnetic, playful and charismatic nature of the RedBall the work is able to access the imagination embedded in all of us."
No doubt, the ball at Menil Park offers visitors a variety of concepts to ponder: its malleability, negative and positive space, the ephemeral nature of public art . . . but if you visit the ball in person, what you'll find is a crowd of bewildered Houstonians sharing immense smiles.
