A Case of the Human Condition: Hanging Out in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

By :

spoonbridge and cherry, Minneapolis. Photo by BF Newhall — Spoonbridge and Cherry by Oldenburg. Photo by BF Newhall

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

After our visit to the the Walker Art Center in downtown Minneapolis, my son Peter and I walked across the street to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

Claes Oldenburg’s “Spoonbridge and Cherry” (1985-1988) was a kick, but I gravitated toward Jenny Holzer’s “Selections From the Living Series” (1989). Holzer’s twenty-eight white granite benches look innocuous enough — until you get closer. Each bench bears a pithy — tongue in cheek? — aphorism.

I took pictures of my favorites.