ARS GRATIA ARTIS

A wider view of the installation near the Mississippi by the late local artist and general strange person, Bob Cassilly, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Cassilly. All concrete and steel, much painted through the years. Cassilly is best known as the founder, along with his former wife, of our amazing City Museum, https://citymuseum.org/ . Factoid about Cassilly: he and his first wife were honeymooning in Rome when a mentally ill man attacked Michelangelo’s Pieta. Cassilly was the first to act and subdue the assailant.                  

SNAKE IN THE GRASS

Out-there sculpture in an old industrial area of the riverfront. There is a lot more of this construction than fits in the frame and a lot more to the back story than I can tell here. Probably more images to come.                   

SYSIPHUS

It’s not an arrogant mythical king but it is just as futile. Someone mentioned in a comment to Monday’s post that the missing sphere from the line could be seen at the upper right of the frame. But no, it is a separate sculpture by the locally famous Bob Cassilly, co-founder of the nothing-else-like-it -in the-world City Museum. The turtle may try to climb the sphere or push it forward but no amount of effort leads to progress.                      

AIR CONDITIONED DRAGONS

Regular readers of my blog have seen many posts about St. Louis' wildly unusual City Museum. It was founded by the late sculptor and odd-ball entrepreneur Bob Cassilly and his former wife, Gail Soliwoda. They had a workshop where they created sculptures and other decorative elements, including this facade. It has been vacant for years and is badly deteriorated in the rear. The current owner applied for a demolition permit but preservationists are working to save its wonderful terra cotta face.

Gee whiz fact: you oldies may have heard that in 1972, a mentally ill man went after Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's with a hammer. Cassilly, who was in Rome on his honeymoon with his first wife, was the person who tackled him and prevented him from doing further damage. Cassilly grew up in the suburb of Webster Groves, where I live.

SLOW PROGRESS

This patio is a few steps away from Nature Playscape we've seen lately. It's at the back of a hilltop pavillion that's been preserved from the 1904 World's Fair. (We also had the Olympics that year. We used to be somebody.) The turtle hasn't made any progress that I've noticed. It was designed by Bob Cassilly, the late mad genius who founded our wacky City Museum. We are taking the grandkids there Saturday and there should be plenty of images.                  

MAN EATING TURTLE

Turtle Playground on the edge of Forest Park. The sculptures were designed by STL's late mad genius, Bob Cassilly, founder of our quirky City Museum. Kids usually climb all over these (there are several) but, of course, it's cordoned off now. I wonder if any children have the courage to crawl in the mouth of this one.        

Keep St. Louis Freaky

There are some parts of our metropolitan area that are godawful boring. Soulless, seemingly endless suburban subdivisions. Shopping plazas off the city streets, housing the same numb franchises. Walmarts that spread to the horizon. Makes me think of Frank Zappa's Hungry Freaks. 

But it's not all like that. We are fortunate to have a strong undercurrent of weirdness, more visible in the city proper. This bit is a tiny, wacky park at the entrance to the riverfront trail that starts north of the Arch. It was designed by the late Bob Cassilly, founder of our very, very strange - and delightful - City Museum. Work on the site seems to have stopped after Cassilly's death but it still radiates the spirit of an artist who refused to be defined.

So much to shoot in the coming days. There are two St. Patrick's Day parades this weekend. The city's is on Saturday and it's huge. There is a smaller one, less flashy but somehow more sincere, that is always on March 17. Since that's Sunday this year I get to shoot it. It's run by an organization that calls itself The Ancient Order Of Hibernians in a neighborhood with the picturesque name of Dogtown.  Then there's a quick business trip to New Orleans on Tuesday - work in the morning but the afternoon and evening free to shoot. Whew.          

Snake In The Grass

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Thar be monsters.

There is a walking and cycling trail that runs along the Mississippi, starting in a semi-derelict industrial area a couple of kilometers north of the Arch. It has a mini park at the entrance - we're using the term park loosely - set up by our town's late mad genius and entrepreneur, Bob Cassilly. (He even got an obituary in the New York Times.) The theme of the sculptures he installed seems to be sleepy or amorous serpents (more about the latter soon). Visitors find it jolting to pull into a lonely gravel parking lot, only to be confronted by a huge cement snake. Could they be scarier than baby snakes?

Love Among The Reptiles

.I think you could get busted in St. Louis for this 50 years ago. Whatever it is was designed by local mad genius Bob Cassilly. He's the guy who runs our very odd but fascinating City Museum. Best I can figure out is that he designed the area in this photo as a bizarre little park on a bike trail along the Mississippi, through the industrial badlands north of the Arch. These two are prominent residents.

Is this love, sex, communication or what? Actually, it kind of reminds me of a mother bird regurgitating food to its baby.

Snakepit

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I need to get out and shoot some new stuff (in my spare time). For a few days, we will go back to the strange, sometimes desolate area north of the Arch. This is the same weird plaza, still under construction, as in my posts of February 18 and February 10. The latter was shot looking through the hole of one of those red metal donuts. Your children might not want to use that area in the lower left as a wading pool.

WHAT"S ON TODAY'S CALENDAR: another Rituxan infusion. I [heart symbol] big pharma.

TOMORROW: The Polaroid Kidd

Reptile Smooch

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Still editing London pictures. For now, back in Bob Cassilly's crazy plaza in the industrial wastelands north of the Arch, first noted in February 10th's post. He has this thing for giant turtles and snakes. It looks like love to me.

Let's See. Money, Fame...What's Missing?

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What's this? Just outside the trailhead mentioned yesterday is an old power plant. Someone started to rehab it and then the economy went ppfftt. Notwithstanding that, Bob Cassilly, the mad genius who runs our City Museum (see my set of photos here), appears to be building a weird plaza just outside. I was standing inside a big metal donut in the structure when I shot this. The area will make it onto the blog one of these days.

WHAT'S AT THE END OF TODAY'S ROAD: Chicago and dinner with that city's finest photoblogger. We'll be traveling and I may not be able to leave comments on other blogs.

TOMORROW: par avion.