Uneasy Rhetoric

At first I thought the interlaced blue lights with the big blue dot in the center were some kind of abstract Christmas decoration. Then I considered the possibility that the city had sold the advertising rights to the Alhambra resevoir (really, a big tank) to a video game company. If I’d bothered to read the paper, I would have known better. Sometimes you can learn something from the Bee.

Actually, it is part of a new art installation at the resevoir. From the city’s Art in Public Places news page:

“The Alhambra Project” consists of facade aluminum sculpture, cast vessels and LED lights which represent the flow of water from the wetlands to the City of Sacramento.

Honestly, I like it, but I’ve only seen it fleetingly, while driving by on a mission for Guinness. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera or I would have stopped. R.E. Grasswhich was not quite as kind in his article yesterday, especially in his snarky comment about City Councilman Steve Cohn:

The interpretative art project at the Alhambra water tower will be dedicated today at dusk. Permanent lighting will brighten the grounds. A time capsule will be entombed. People will discuss the attributes (or possible lack thereof) of the artwork, by Chico State art professor Michael Bishop, which depicts water flowing into Sacramento’s rivers from the mountains….

“I think the project looks terrific,” said Steve [Cohn], who’s no art critic.