A striking metalmorphosis

Several weeks ago I saw a picture online of this giant constantly-changing head sculpture slash fountain that, when operational, squirts water out its mouth.

And the thing is, the sculpture does not rest. It's in a constant state of flux, whole sections of it twisting this way and that, transmogrifying into shapes that don't add up, then back into the likeness of a face.

Czech sculptor David Černý's Metalmorphosis is the centerpiece of an otherwise ordinary office park in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Charlotte is a city I visit only on occasion but one which I drive right past -- close enough to see the whites of its eyes -- every time I go to Stephanie's house.

I MapQuested the exact coordinates of the marvelous grosse tête and found that it was about as far off the Interstate as I could throw a Frisbee, were I inclined to do so, which trust me I am not.

In other words: Right There.

So why had I never noticed it, near to the road, large and in charge as it clearly is? I wondered.

I've been going up through that neck of the woods every couple of months since July of 2007, which is right about the time the sculpture was installed.

I cross-reffed with Google Earth to confirm with my eyes that the sculpture indeed stood in the immediate vicinity of where I would soon be when I ventured north for Baby Andrew's first birthday party.

I told TG: We're going to have to stop on the way back home, for pictures of that thing.

Okay, he said.

Which is what he always says, not because I am a harpy but because he is a love.

So on Friday after we crossed into North Carolina from I-77 North and looped around onto I-485 West, at the exit for Arrowood Road I looked to my left.

And there it was. The giant mirrored head fountain. Visible from the road. And yet I'd never seen it. With the brief glance I got, I could see that the tiers were not jumbled but aligned into the forward-looking face.

It was then I knew that returning home the next day, all we had to do was exit right and there we'd be.

Just like almost always when I travel to -- or home from -- a destination with plans for a stop-off photo shoot of something remarkable, the weather did not cooperate. It was gray and cold all weekend.

But on Saturday when we arrived at Metalmorphosis, at least it wasn't raining. Even so, we had the place to ourselves.

To my chagrin the fountain head was not on, as in, the mechanized plates were not moving and no water was spewing from the mouth into the huge and perfectly round black granite infinity pool. A piece of heavy equipment was in fact parked right beside the whole thing, so I concluded that work is being done.

Or maybe they turn it off on winter weekends.

I don't know but there it was and here it is. I love it.

They say the best pictures of Metalmorphosis are to be made at night when due to lights trained on its silver planes, it is at its most mysterious.

I can see how that would be true but I would also like to capture it with an azure blue sky and puffy dreamy clouds reflected in its eyes.

At any rate I'll be back.

Here's hoping your eyes reflect a blue sky today.

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Happy Wednesdahead

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Comments

[irene]

How cool is that, there are brilliant people in the word, aren't there? Looking forward to more of your discoveries.

[Mari]

That is so cool! I wish it had been turned on but this gives you a reason to go back - that and visiting it when there is blue sky. :)

[Donna M.]

How cool is that! Makes me think of rubbing Mr. Jim's head, LOL.

[Sue the Hobbit]

It looks eerily like a very difficult 3-D puzzle that we own. I would love to see this fountain. It looks very clean, so maybe that's what the truck was doing.

[Andrew]

This is......amazing......we must go there again soon! I have got to see this!

[Skunkfeathers]

My pet rock, Seymour, says this thing looks like his friend, the Easter Island-looking Kleenex (dispenser) Head. I sorta see kinda what he means, a little...