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It's Wednesday May the 10 around 10:51AM and

A Spirit Bear Ranting

spiritbear.jpg
In what a friend assured me was the "God's honest truth", a truly magnificent and delicious hump day rant about the Spirit Bears seen around the city as sent to the organization itself:
Dear Mr. Miller,

I am sure that you receive a lot of positive feedback with regards to the Spirit Bears in the City fundraiser since it was modeled after the successful Orcas in the City campaign, among others. I’m actually writing today to urge you to consider a different campaign for your next fundraiser.

One of the objectives of the Spirit Bears in the City campaign is to promote civic pride. While I’m sure that many people enjoy the site of massive fiberglass bears littering the city streets, for some these brightly coloured statues are a source of the exact opposite. Vancouver is a beautiful city, and these bears render it kitschy and farcical. Artists should be free to pursue endeavours near and dear to their hearts, rather than being confined to a mammal-shaped canvas. These statues trivialize the dignity of the Spirit Bear - a noble animal such as this forced to wear a jet-pack? It's just a little bit ridiculous.

None of this is to say that I don't support the Lions' fundraising efforts. In fact, I would be more likely to conisder becoming a supporter if it meant no more animal statues in Vancouver .

Good luck with your fundraising efforts.

Wow. This is so amazingly cool.

Posted by Jackson Murphy | Link | Comments (8)

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Posted by: wyn

May 10, 2006 11:58 AM

I loved the Lobsters in Halifax, Nutcrackers in Seattles, and Moose in Toronto.

It could be those creatures are just more endearing to me than some malformed bear. Perhaps I had seen much more interesting concepts presented on these other fibreglass entities than on the Bears I have seen around Vancouver - these Spirit Bears are plain eyesores to me.

Posted by: gusgreeper

May 11, 2006 11:36 AM

i don't like them but i like them better than the whales from last year.

Posted by: Lee

May 11, 2006 02:41 PM

Is this guy for real?

Artists are free to do whatever the fuck they want.

I find it shocking that this guy would actually ask the Lions to discontinue a successful fundraiser because it "annoyed" him.

If only they would have accepted my submission:
A clear plexi bear with an artist confined inside the mammal-shaped-canvas.

Posted by: Ariadna

May 11, 2006 09:02 PM

In Berlin, a few years ago, there was a display of (polar?) bears. Each represented a country and they stood in a circle. They were gorgeous. The only one I truly remember was the Spanish one, he was all done up Gaudi-style and it looked great. They were going to be auctioned off late. This is a farce, that was art.

Posted by: Vancouver Vela

May 21, 2006 12:05 AM

Strange that a promotional event in Berlin would be tagged as art while a similar event in Vancouver would be referred to as a farce. Here's a link to some "Street Bears" in Berlin: http://www.galenfrysinger.com/berlin_street_bears.htm Art or farce, you be the judge.
I wonder what the Canadian Bear looked like in the 2002 exhibit? What would distinguish a Canadian Art Bear from a Canadian Farce Bear?

Posted by: Vancouver Vela

May 21, 2006 12:28 AM

Found the Canadian Buddy Bear at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chelsea_russ/118011197/
Shattered china plates and teacups must represent Canada's neverending national identity crisis or our relationship with the Americans who could be likened to a bear in china shop or it may well be a lot of bull.

Posted by: Vancouver Vela

May 22, 2006 02:56 PM

Edinburgh has cows on parade. Art or farce, you be the judge.
http://edinburgh.cowparade.com/

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