Does Vancouver have the world’s happiest sculpture?
“A-Maze-ing Laughter” is the happiest sculpture I have ever encountered. It is located next to Vancouver’s English Bay beach a busy pedestrian/cycling pathway which enhances the sense of fun and frivolity. It consists of 14 larger than life (10 feet tall) cartoon-like bronze figures each with the same huge (hysterical) smile, but a different quirky, smirky gesture. It is hard to tell if the figures are laughing with you or at you. The wide-open smiling face is the signature trademark of the artist Yue Minjun and the figure a caricature of the artist.
Minjun has organized the figures in circular maze that invites people to weave in and out of them in a game of hide and seek. Whenever we have passed by the artwork there is always someone interacting with them and almost always some laughter.
Background
The artwork was part of the 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale exhibition. The artist, Yue Minjun, is a leading figure of Cynical Realism, a contemporary Chinese artistic movement that emerged in response to the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Minjun uses humour and cynicism to engage viewers in an ambiguous dialogue that leaves the viewer to interpret what if any message or statement the artist is trying to make.
The sculpture was originally conceived as a linear installation and exhibited at the Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art. The Vancouver Biennale provided Minjun with the opportunity to reinterpret the work for its new site on English Bay and titled the work: A-maze-ing Laughter.
In 2012, Shannon and Chip Wilson, who founded Lululemon, donated $1.5 million dollars for the city to buy the artwork and keep it on display permanently.
On July 13, 2017, the City of Vancouver proclaimed the official "Day of Laughter". This was in honour of the artist of A-maze-ing Laughter, Yue Minjun, who was visiting Vancouver for the first time.
FYI: One of Vancouver’s nicknames is “No Fun City” for its lack of nightlife for a city its size and stature. I recall back in the ‘90s the City of Vancouver hired a Fun Manager to try to address concerns the city lacked the fun things to see and do that most urban tourist destinations have – nightlife, patios, buskers, street vendors, murals, street festivals etc.
Calgary’s Happiest Sculpture
While Calgary doesn’t have anything to match “A-maze-ing Laughter,” the colourful cows grazing in the “Udderly Art Pasture” along the +15 walkway of the Centennial Parkade are definitely fun.
And Mario Armengol’s “Brotherhood of Mankind,” that consists of ten, faceless 20+ foot dancing figures in a downtown park evokes some of the same sense of play as Minjun’s artwork.
At Stampede time the “By the Banks of the Bow” sculpture in Stampede Park with its 15 horses and two cowboys becomes an amazing children’s playground, as hundreds of kids climb all over them, which in turn generates thousands of happy faces (kids, parents, family and spectators) every day.
But for year-round happiness, I am not aware of any public artwork that can beat Minjun’s “A-maze-ing Laughter.”
Last Word
There is an old adage “laughter is the best medicine,” and I would say “A-Maze-ing Laughter” is the perfect medicine for a world that seems to be growing more and more problematic. I think we could all use more laughter in our daily lives. And I think City Centre’s around the world could use more public artworks that are fun.
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If you like this blog, you will like these links:
Downtown Calgary’s Udderly Art Pasture
Stampede Park: Calgary’s Best Public Art Playground
Brotherhood of Mankind sculpture successfully evokes a sense of “brotherhood!’