User:Viriditas/Chain Reaction notes

To do

 * Lead
 * Threat to sculpture from city; activism and fundraising to save it
 * "It is one of approximately 37 works of public art in the 8.3 square mile city of Santa Monica."
 * This should also specify that is one of X number of sculptures (15?)
 * Removed from lead.
 * Background
 * Santa Monica milieu. Transition from conservative military contractors to bastion of hippies in the 1970s and then back to yuppies. (ICF International 2012; Landmarks Commission 2012)
 * Meeting with philanthropist Joan Kroc. Was the statue her idea or did Conrad's cartoon come first?
 * One of the few reminders in the U.S. of what happened at Hiroshima (Sorman 2013)
 * A product of the anti-nuclear movements of the 1980s
 * Architectural history
 * Landmark
 * Criteria
 * Proposal
 * Supposed to have been bronze for durability.
 * Original proposed location vs. present location. Later construction of RAND building and Scheer's commentary about its proximity
 * The RAND building was originally just up the block at 1700 Main where it remained for five decades until it moved down the block to 1776 Main around 2004. When Chain Reaction was installed in 1991, it was placed directly across the street from what was once RAND's south paved parking lot. For some reason, RAND has tried to downplay this historical fact by claiming it was only a parking lot, but failing to mention it was their parking lot.  It appears (according to the above linked EIR) that plans were already in place to move the company to the new location (directly across from Chain Reaction) at the time the sculpture was installed in 1991 (but not finalized until 1993), which may be the reason why several art critics and commentators have lead their readers to believe that Conrad planned this all along.  For all intents and purposes, it does look like Conrad (and by extension Kroc) were directly criticizing RAND by placing the sculpture in this location, as RAND is historically most notable for its creation of the concept of nuclear deterrence by mutually assured destruction.  This leads directly into the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that the movement to remove the sculpture has come from RAND itself.
 * Some sources erroneously reported that the statue was heavily damaged and falling down. NPR was one of the worst offenders, as they got virtually every aspect of the story wrong.  What's so incredibly strange and unusual about this, is that "California's leading National Public Radio affiliate" is located at KCRW in Santa Monica.  Several months prior to NPR's story, KCRW's Lisa Napoli had covered the story in an accurate and neutral manner.  Why then, did NPR decide to ignore her story and publish a sensational and inaccurate report instead?  According to  Karl Grossman at FAIR, it could be because NPR receives "hundreds of thousands of dollars from “nuclear operator Sempra Energy” and Constellation Energy, “which belongs to Nustart Energy, a 10-company consortium pushing for new nuclear power plant construction." Viriditas (talk) 22:40, 10 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Opponents
 * Accused of "stuffing the ballot box."
 * Restoration cost
 * Between 85,000 - 555,000.
 * Reception/Reaction/Legacy
 * UCLA professor Paul Von Blum places the sculpture (and Conrad) in the category of late 20th and early 21st century contemporary American public political artwork. Von Blum calls the work "a powerful warning about the continuing dangers of nuclear war" in the tradition of American commemorative works about disturbing events. Von Blum compares Conrad's vision, the controversy his work provoked, his resistance to its critics, and his level of quality to similar artists in the past and present.  French artist Honoré Daumier's caricatures of Louis Philippe I and other politicians is compared to Conrad's treatment of US presidents.  In the contemporary era, Conrad's work is compared to American artists such as Beniamino Bufano, George Segal, Luis Jimenez and Maya Lin.
 * Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times art critic
 * Robert Scheer, Truthdig
 * Dwayne Booth (Mr. Fish), compares the theme of Conrad's sculpture to William Steig's work.
 * Art curator Robert Berman
 * Relevance of anti-nuclear sentiment
 * Theme
 * Nuclear weapons and warfare
 * Activism
 * "Save Chain Reaction", petition and supporters
 * 2013 Preservation Award: Dave Conrad and Jerry Rubin are recognized by the Santa Monica Conservancy for their "exemplary contributions to preservation in Santa Monica". "Jerry Rubin and David Conrad were recognized with the Advocacy Award for their leadership in the campaign to protect and preserve the “Chain Reaction” sculpture created by Paul Conrad, a signature part of the Civic Center and Santa Monica’s first landmark work of public art."  Conrad and Rubin's advocacy campaign was facilitated by attorney Ken Kutcher and grant writer Abby Arnold.