Artists almost never protest other artists. But it happened in an
episode last week that began with an e-mail to the press from
“Georgetown_artists.” “Georgetown neighborhood artists and neighbors
are very concerned about a new SuttonBeresCuller work site,” the e-mail
read. The author of the e-mail, painter and etching artist Ronald
Aeberhard, lives next door to the site in question. “All the good
stuff in Georgetown is being ripped down,” he opined. He said about
15 to 20 artists—”Friends of the Rocks”—wanted to know why
Seattle art trio SuttonBeresCuller was about to destroy a beloved local
landmark.
The landmark, at 6525 Ellis Avenue South, is not a traditional
landmark. It doesn’t have a plaque or a historical listing. It’s just a
kitschy rock wall made by a guy named Louie Moss, a late local legend
who dressed in orange coveralls while playing the accordion near
places like the Kingdome and Pike Place Market before he died in 1990
at age 72. Moss lived in Georgetown, and three blocks away from his
rock wall is his former home, which is also covered, lovingly, in
rocks.
The SuttonBeresCuller project, Mini Mart City Park, will
convert an abandoned former gas station back into a little green zone,
a tiny public park. SBC is away on a retreat this month with Creative
Capital, the major funder of Mini Mart City Park, so the artists
sent a response to Aeberhard through their dealer, Scott Lawrimore.
Lawrimore explained that the artists were frustrated at being
criticized; they’d already approached the Georgetown Community Council
for approval, and their project is a reclamation of a derelict zone.
They didn’t like being thought of as callous interlopers.
According to community council chair Holly Krejci, the rock wall has
to be removed for a seismic upgrade before the property can be used;
Lawrimore said the artists plan to incorporate “elements” from the wall
into Mini Mart City Park. (The property is privately owned, SBC
has a two-year lease on it, and the artists hope to open the “park” in
nine months.)
A debate erupted on Slog, The Stranger‘s news and arts blog,
about the rock wall’s aesthetic merits. But to me that’s totally
beside the point. Artists working in publicly accessible spaces,
even on private property, have a spiritual obligation to that “public.”
SBC, in creating a public amenity (and known for other public
amenities, such as its portable living room and park), has a particular
obligation to care. The artists don’t have to please the old-timers,
but they ought to want to hear them out. And ugliness is
immaterial, as contemporary artists should know better than anyone:
I expect SBC to take seriously the wall’s artifactual value, just as
it’s taking the rest of the site’s history seriously. If SBC does its
job right, Moss’s rocks may not keep the same form, but they will gain,
not lose, meaning. 
