(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A distinctive piece of public art that has stood outside the James R. Thompson Center for nearly 40 years is getting a new home.
Jean Dubuffet’s 29-foot-tall fiberglass structure “Monument with Standing Beast” will eventually be moved to 115 S. LaSalle St., where some state offices are relocating. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker last week announced a deal to sell the Helmut Jahn-designed Thompson Center, which has served as state government’s Chicago headquarters.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported the pending move of the state-owned statue, citing a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services. No date has been set.
The 10-ton “Monument with Standing Beast,” like the glass-clad Thompson Center itself, is not universally loved. It occasionally is referred to as “Snoopy in a Blender,” presumably because of its black-outlined swaths of white. In fact, the sculpture is supposed to represent four elements — an animal, a tree, a portal and a monument, the Sun-Times reports.
“I know it’s supposed to be a beast, but to me it looks like icebergs,” passerby Peter Orlinsky told the paper.
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