Bench Marks - NINA K

Bench Marks 1998
This is a temporary piece in San Diego made for the occasion of the Super Bowl and the influx of visitors. I had purchased an upholstered front seat set from an old auto. Devised a way to make seatbelts function and had some foot mats embroidered with the words “Cell Phone Booth”. Yes, the seats reclined. A funny one liner in 3-D for a tourist doing a quick walk through the Gas Lamp District. It was to be in front of the F Street Adult Video and Gift. The piece didn’t make it the entire month of its proposed stay. When it got stabbed, I had to take it away. I was stunned by the stabbing. As a public artist I’m wired to plan for the worst, but I had never before considered someone stabbing art. The manager of F Street called me and said it was probably done by a Tree Snapper, a new word for my vocabulary. Apparently when someone has become frustrated they turn to a young sapling and break it in two. This is better than a person or animal, but still, the poor tree! Its rough out there, and I was assured it wouldn’t have been one of their customers, who had been praising the piece while it was in place.