In an Unsettling Sign of the Times, People Are Covering Beloved Public Statues Around the World With Face Masks

by admin

Mar 26, 2020

artnet

Fearless Girl is wearing one outside the New York Stock
Exchange. In Taiwan, Confucius has one too, and on the shores of
Lake Geneva, Freddie Mercury has one covering his famously
oversized teeth.

What are they wearing? Like many people around the world these
days, surgical masks.

First, a caveat: as the Centers for Disease Control have been
making clear, these masks are only necessary for health-care
workers and those who are already ill.

Supplies of N95 masks in particular, which are essential for
physicians, nurses, and others tending to patients with COVID-19,
are dangerously low, and the health officials have been warning
private citizens not to stockpile them unnecessarily.

But call it a sign of the times: masks are nevertheless cropping
up on public sculptures around the world. And while we
discourage anyone from using these surgical items for unnecessary
purposes, perhaps the images below speak to how the anxiety
produced by the coronavirus crisis has spilled over into the most
public part of the art world.

Fearless Girl in New
York

The 'Fearless Girl' statue stands across from the New York Stock Exchange. (Photo by Luiz Roberto Lima-ANB/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Fearless Girl statue stands
across from the New York Stock Exchange. (Photo by Luiz Roberto
Lima-ANB/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Magic Carpet
Ride statue in Cardiff by the Sea,
California

The “Magic Carpet Ride” statue along
Highway 101 in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California. (COVID-19). (Photo
by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Confucius in Taoyuan,
Taiwan

A statue of Confucius by Taiwans
sculptor Lin Hsin-lai, in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan. (Photo by Sam
Yeh / AFP) (Photo by SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Titeuf by Zep in
Geneva, Switzerland

The character Titeuf by artist Philippe
Chappuis, alias Zep wears a mask in Geneva. (Photo by FABRICE
COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

The Mannekin-Pis statue in
Brussels, Belgium

The Manneken-Pis statue that wears a
protective mask support of medical workers in Brussels, Belgium.
(Photo by ARIS OIKONOMOU/AFP via Getty Images)

Sculptures at Plaza San
Martin in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sculptures at Plaza San Martin in Buenos
Aires, Argentina. (Photo by JUAN MABROMATA/AFP via Getty
Images)

Freddie Mercury in
Montreux, Switzerland

The statue of Queen frontman Freddie
Mercury dons a mask on the shore of the Lake Geneva. (Photo by
Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty
Images)

Greyfriars Bobby in
Edinburgh, Scotland

The beloved statue of the dog Greyfriars
Bobby that has had a face mask placed on it in Edinburgh. (Photo by
ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty
Images)

King Baudouin in Oostende,
Belgium

Statue of King Baudouin with a mouth
mask in Oostende. Photo by Nico Vereecken / Photonews via Getty
Images)

Eros Bound in
Krakow, Poland

Igor Mitoraj’s sculpture ‘Eros Bendato’
(Eros Bound) at the Main Square in Krakow, Poland. (Photo by Beata
Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A statue in Luxembourg
Square, Belgium

A statue at the Luxembourg Square in
Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)

Statues outside the Royal
Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Canada

The statues at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

The statues at Princess Margaret
Hospital in Toronto. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty
Images)

Make Way for
Ducklings in Boston, Massachusetts

A view of the Make Way for Ducklings
statue wearing crafted face in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

A sculpture at the Jardin
des Tuleries in Paris, France

A statue in jardin des tuileries with a
face mask on his face in Paris, France. (Photo by Jerome
Gilles/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A statue
in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq

A statue in the city of Sulaimaniyah, in
the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq. (Photo by SHWAN
MOHAMMED/AFP via Getty Images)

A female statue in Madrid,
Spain

A protective mask and gloves are placed on a statue in Madrid Center. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

A protective mask and gloves are placed
on a statue in Madrid Center. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez
Dominguez/Getty Images)

Alex de Souza in Istanbul,
Turkey

Face mask and medical gloves were put on
the statue of Alex de Souza in Istanbul. (Photo by Sebnem
Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Emmeline Pankhurst in
Manchester, United Kingdom

A view of the Emmeline Pankhurst at St
Peters Square in Manchester. (Photo by Andy Barton/SOPA
Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Rocky Balboa at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA

A sign sitting at the base of the Rocky Balboa Sculpture outside the Philadelphia Art Museum. Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images.

A sign sitting at the base of the Rocky
Balboa Sculpture outside the Philadelphia Art Museum. Photo by
Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images.

The post In an Unsettling Sign of the Times, People Are
Covering Beloved Public Statues Around the World With Face
Masks appeared first on artnet News.

In an Uncomfortable Sign of the Times, People Are Covering Public Statues Around the World With Face Masks

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