Snoopy in the Blender (according to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) is what many Chicagoans affectionately call the Monument with Standing Beast, the sculpture by the French artist, Jean Dubuffet located in front of the James R. Thompson Center (formerly the State of Illinois Center) in the Loop. This 29- feet sculpture was unveiled in 1984 and is one of the many commissioned art funded through the State of Illinois Art-in-Architecture Program.
The work is composed of four elements that suggest a standing animal, a tree, a portal and an architectural form - arranged in such a manner that the viewer is invited to interact with it, explore it, go inside it, go around it. It took me years to finally find a good vantage point to photograph this (as shown in the photo) - it is really a very difficult structure to photograph.
Just a word of advise - if you want to photograph this - be ready to be insulted by the smell inside. That is all.
This is the first of the series of photographs of public art that I will feature here from time to time. Chicago is a wonderful city to view monumental public art installations, many by renowned artists including Picasso, Miro, Kapoor, Plensa, and this one by Dubuffet.
For more information about the sculpture, please go to Explore Chicago site. Channel 11 WTTW has also some great infomation about this sculpture as well as the State of Illinois Art-in-Architecture program.
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