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Scott Olson / Getty Images
Spectators look at "Forever Marilyn," a sculpture by Seward Johnson, on July 15 in Chicago.
It's true, Chicago. The top half of the "mysterious" 26-foot sculpture on Michigan Avenue was unveiled Friday to be Marilyn Monroe.
There was speculation earlier this week about whether the iconic legs − complete with flowing skirt blown up by a subway grate − belonged to the Hollywood starlet. And the realty group that commissioned the Pioneer Court installation was tight-lipped about her identity.
Friday morning's unveiling of New Jersey-based artist Seward Johnson's new sculpture confirmed suspicions. Marilyn will strike her closed-eye, classic pose until spring 2012.
Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
The sculpture depicts Marilyn Monroe in her most famous wind-blown pose.
Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Members of the Hugh and Anya Nguyen wedding party pose under Seward Johnson's 26-foot-tall sculpture of Marilyn Monroe on Friday in Chicago.
Downtown workers and tourists probably remember Johnson for his large, "American Gothic"-inspired sculpture, titled "God Bless America," in the same Pioneer Court location in 2008. The following year, a sculpture depicting Shakespeare's King Lear took the spot.
Why another Johnson piece in the visible space?
"His art starts a conversation," said Melissa Farrell, an executive assistant for Zeller Realty Group. "People love it or hate it, but they're talking about it."
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WMAQ-TV is the NBC affiliate in Chicago.
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One picture???? That's it??? I hate it when they only post a single picture. This is the digital age. How expensive can it be to post 10 - 20 digital pictures????? And please, if so, post them @ least 800 x 600 pixels.
A smaller (aka life sized) version of this statue can be found in front of the Tropic Cinema in the Southernmost City of Key West, Florida.
I saw it when I was vacationing there about two weeks ago! I live west of Chicago so this will be something to see once I take another trip to the city.
This sculpture is AWESOME!
In other news, Americans are broke, can't afford to seek healthcare, still losing their homes and in danger of losing what's left of their retirement investments in several weeks.
Hundreds of children were left for dead on the side of the street in Somalia on their way to a refugee camp. In other news, Americans are angry that fast food chain corporations like McDonalds are fattening America.
You both need to get back on your medication! It's not "news," it is entertainment, which also has an important place in today's landscape.
A Marilyn Monroe statue is entertainment? put your shirt back on
OnTheOtherHand-3703495, don't get too crazy!
Notice all the guys looking up the skirt.
I'd like to take a look up there too.
They should put a 24/7 live web cam under that dress..all be on the internet looking up a statues dress.
Chicago's city counsil...
" So it is decided, the Metro city police department will take massive cuts on funding"
next topic, 26 foot tall statue of Marilyn Monroe..
This is paid for by a private company.
because they're the only ones with money to pi$$ away anymore.
Jack 25624
Paid by a private company that has $$ to blow since they pay no taxes and laid off a bunch of people. They put a statue of the girl they fantasized about screwing when they were teens for display because they felt a little bad about screwing over the country and getting away with it, how ironic.
Just make something big, and it's ART?
I wonder how many people will travel to Chicago just to look up Marilyn Monroe's dress?
that's what I tell her.
I hope people take all the pictures they can before the pigeons turn this statue into a port-o-potty.
It's better than the typical haphazardly welded together hunks of rusted steel (usually called something like 'Brief Permanence') that passes for public art.
Talk about celebrity worship. Marilyn was exploited in life and now in death. Shallow stuff in my opinion.
I know, what's next, an Elvis statue? when is the James Dean statue going to be built?
How about we move on and let these people rest in peace?
Looks creepy as fck.
I LOL'd
#9, 10, and 10.1, display a higher intelligence than many.
How many times will the city need to remove phallic sculptures that will mysteriously appear beneath the statue?
Or the beginning of a photo trend of a shocked expression while pointing up. Kind of like pushing on the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Is that going to be there forever? How silly. It's so ugly!
Even though privately funded, and called art, it sure is not fine art.
Did you read the article?
It will be there for less than a year. That space is used to display art installations for the public to enjoy. Last year there was a huge, 3-dimensional piece representing "American Gothic", before that was something else, after this, something else. If you don't like it, don't go and see it. It didn't cost you a dime.
THIS is the best they can do to promote "art"??? Notice there is not ONE woman standing beneath this monstrosity. Shouldn't a "realty group" be promoting homes and stopping foreclosures instead of dressed in suits looking up a dead woman's skirt? How much did this cost? Next spring it will be torn down? What a complete tasteless waste of money! Guess the economy is not as bad as they would have us believe????
They're making enough money to commission the sculpture which, in turn, created some jobs for someone, at least temporarily. How is this bad?
so a "s l u t" is more famous than a veteran? on top of that, we're teaching kids to look under her skirt? nice!
Hey that's were I learned about sex, in gutter.
No one ever had to teach a kid to look up a girl's skirt.
So let's encourage and support it by putting a media sensation in the middle of a (used to be) respectable city's town center? How ridiculous, how juvenile - how stupid.
Well, frankly, yes she is more famous. And, no, no one is teaching anyone to look up her skirt; they want to!
Too bad that Ted and Bobby Kennedy are not available to see the statue.
I think it was only John and Bobby who liked her...maybe Ted too before the lake car wash accident.
In Chicago??? You would think an artist from New Jersey would realize the skirt blowing up over a subway vent happen on Lexington Avenue in New York City. Those vents are still there too!
Glad to see we keep our priorities straight everywhere in this country. Entertainment first---------everything else whenever.
This country is crumbling because our leaders run it like irresponsible children. What is it going to take to focus on the countries issues instead of whether or not Clemens lied about something he shouldn't have been in front of Congress for in the first place, putting up statues of already exploited people, taking friggin McDonalds commercials off TV etc...........This isn't what the government was tasked with when it was formed.
Everyone and I mean people in the lowest income countries living in some grass hut has to be laughing at us. This "sculpture" shows the blatant waste of money this country has become accustomed to. What purpose does this serve? What goes their next year, a naked Anna Nicole Smith????
Jumping off my soapbox to go wake up other Americans because this all must be some weird dream.
Hey Browns, lighten up. This was paid for by a private company. They can spend their money any way they want. It's America, remember.
What Jack said, plus the money got flowing and created work for the materials manufacturer, the artist, the workers who had to move it there and the journalists and photographers that get to cover it. If a realty company wants to put this on their property with their own money, more power to 'em!
If we spend all of our time worrying and focusing on what is wrong with everything, then what is the point of living? Lighten up!
Just so, Mr. Blue. And what's with all the posters pitying poor 'exploited' Norma Jean. As if she didn't choose the life she led, didn't wish to become America's sex symbol. . .
The Big O keeps saying we have to tighten our belts and make sacrifices. Chicago apparently didn't hear his speech. Then again, Barry and his crew don't worry too much about tightening their belts. They're set for life. A very comfortable life at public expense.
77 lighten up. This was paid for by a private company. They can spend their money any way they want. It's America, remember.
But way to try and turn this into yet another opportunity to bash Obama for anything and everything that you don't agree with.
I'm sure they consulted Obama before putting up this statue [/sarc]
pathetic.
"Starlet" How many interns does it take to turn on the light bulb?
I'd say it's disgusting and will be a pigeon haven
Sorry Browns... only bad dreams now. I am equally embarrassed for America, and agree that we are becoming the laughing stock for the world while our leaders continue to fumble along. Waste everywhere, and unfortunately most of it is coming from those supposedly leading our country to a better future?!?! Forget the Dem/Rep line in the sand... not one of them is representing the majority of America... not one! They only represent the wishes of the deepest pockets, and that is clearly evident from both sides.
nc lighten up. This was paid for by a private company. They can spend their money any way they want. It's America, remember.
I completely agree... it was a private company that felt it was best for their company to spend a large amount of money from their cash flow. So, do you feel this would be the best use... compared to growing their company and providing more jobs? I definitely agree w/ you that it's a private company, and they can do exactly what they want in America. I just question the logic behind a 20ft blond helping the bottom line. Remember, they also had the choice to employ folks who could add to their company, and chose to build a giant Monroe... seems quite similar to our government if you step back and wade thru the BS.
I am pretty mellow about most things, but as a woman, this bothers me, guys walking under her skirts. Just isn't right. How would my teen daughter feel, if she is walking by there, and some men are under that statue?
It is obnoxious.
Yes, the statue sends a message that many think is funny, or are just in denial of that part of the message. No matter who spent the $, as public art, it is representing America - and sending a poor message.
What amazes me, Yank, is that someone as sexless, humorless, and oblivious to American culture as you would have children at all. Whatever you do, don't ever visit DisneyWorld - I hear they display a statue of another American cinematographic icon without any pants: Donald Duck!!
Why don't all you Puritanical, holier-than-thou bluenoses dismount your soapboxes, crawl back under Plymouth Rock, and stow your moralizing sermons where the sun don't shine?
Re: the cost, if you'll read the story carefully, it says that a realty group commissioned (and therefor PAID for) the statue. Not the city or the federal government. [Not sure why the Zellar Realty Group is apparently doing so much better than all the realtors I know, but that's another question... ]
This is about as bad as the statue of Elizabeth Montgomery in Salem, MA
http://www.bewitched.net/statue.htm
TV Land spent $75,000 to install a bronze statue of "Samantha" in Salem, Mass' Lappin Park on June 15, 2005.
People will be constantly looking up her skirt!!!! That is a fact.
I wonder what color panties she is wearing? Color oordinated? :)
Actually if you look carefully no one is looking, not even the that is between her legs. I thought that was strange.