Ice Sculpture in Kongens Nytory Square (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Lasting Impression of 2009
As we anticipate 2010 with all its unsettling uncertainties and the tenuous promises of fortune, I’d like to reflect on the past year during the eve of the New Year.  I chose this ice polar bear sculpture as the memorable image of 2009.  A bit of irony, to say the least, that the lasting image is a transitory piece of art that melted in front of the recent Copenhagen Conference.  Mark Coreth, a master sculptor of animals in motion, carved a 1.8 sculpture of ice over a metal skeletal structure of the bear as a clarion for the world powers to wake up from their carbon-smudged dreams.

Of the Ice Bear scupture, Coreth had a very potent message to convey: “This might be in the form of a polar bear, but actually it’s a sculpture of the Arctic. If you touch the bear, you’re touching the Arctic.”  As the environmental policy stalemate between China and the U.S. drew on and the negotiations grew wearisome to the few and privileged spectators, the bear melted revealing a glistening metal network of skull and ribcage.  This powerful image is seared into the back of my retinas, for it represented the global nations’ inefficiencies in the wake of worldwide environmental disaster.

via Sylvia Adams, 31 December 2009 2:01pm | 1 |