The first piece in Guadalajara city hall’s Arte Publica (public art) sculpture project was unveiled this week on Avenida Americas, at the corner of Pablo Neruda.
“La Pluma” (The Pen) by Pedro Escapa pays homage to the many Mexican journalists and writers who have been killed while exercising their profession in recent years. Its cost is estimated at 1.4 million pesos ($US78,000).
Spanish-born but a naturalized Mexican citizen since 2006, Escapa has exhibited widely around the world. Summing up his five-meter-tall sculpture in a single phrase, he said, “The axe cannot erase what the pen writes.”
Addressing criticism that the 30-million-peso art project is a waste of municipal resources, Mayor Enrique Alfaro reminded detractors that, “In its time the Eiffel Tower was questioned but is now a world symbol.”
In Arte Publica, eight artists have been commissioned to produce large public sculptures to be installed at various locations around municipal Guadalajara.
Alfaro stressed that investing in “cultural patrimony” is not throwing money down the drain. “Governing is a lot more than just fixing potholes and changing light bulbs,” he remarked at this week’s inauguration.
The mayor said he expects the public artwork project to help Guadalajara’s quest to be named the Cultural Capital of Latin America in the near future.