Moving “The Politician”

Friday, August 10, 2007
Topics: Arts, Politics, Other
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If you've made the commute from University Circle to Public Square on Chester Avenue, you've probably seen it - a colorful, mechanical contraption that rises forty feet above the street. Some say it looks like a robotic chicken. The artist who built it ten years ago says it's a piece of political satire. Whatever you call it, it's about to move to a new location. ideastream's David C. Barnett has more. Photo: Billie Lawless's "Politician" is due to move from its current Chester Avenue location.

Billie Lawless climbs out of his pick-up truck with a pair of Ray Bans shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun.  He also sports a Mickey Mouse watch on his arm, which somehow seems appropriate for an artist known for crafting whimsical mechanical sculptures, but he says it isn’t that deep.

Billie Lawless: It’s just because I’ve never grown up - some part of me. [chuckles] Or some part doesn’t want to grow-up, but the part that matters, has, unfortunately.

A welcome breeze sweeps across the parched grass at East 66th and Chester, where the 58-year-old Lawless is inspecting one of his most famous works - a gigantic representation of a child’s pull toy, with a satiric edge. It sports a couple of slowly spinning wheels that never go anywhere… two eye sockets filled with flickering TV sets… and a mouth in constant motion that never says anything. He calls this fanciful creation: “The Politician - A Toy”.

Billie Lawless: My father was a politician, I grew-up around politicians, so a lot of it was self-evident, I guess [laughs]

But, officials in City Hall weren’t amused when he first proposed the piece in 1994. Mayor Michael White was quoted in the Plain Dealer as saying, “I have seen it. I don’t like it.” White’s Planning Director Hunter Morrison shrugs at the memory.

Hunter Morrison: To be perfectly frank, Billie Lawless had an in-your-face attitude toward public officials and he got the sort of reaction from the mayor that I think he expected. At the same time, the mayor instructed us to treat this very professionally and to address the real issues, not the content issues.

Those issues included concerns that kids from the neighborhood, on the other side of Chester Avenue, might get injured or even electrocuted if they started climbing on the piece. Lawless was ordered to install an electrical cut-off switch, and to put a five-foot fence around his creation.  While acknowledging the safety concerns, the artist suspected that city officials were trying to stifle his free expression.  Morrison says the city has faced such issues before.

Hunter Morrison: We had worked at the very beginning of the White administration with Claes Oldenburg in a very touchy situation having to do with the relocation of the “Free Stamp”.

The Free Stamp - a giant rubber stamp bearing the word “FREE” on its face - was crafted by internationally respected sculptor Claes Oldenburg as a tribute to immigrants who settled in Cleveland. It was originally supported by British Petroleum, which was then headquartered in the city. But company officials were reportedly uncomfortable with the symbolism of a rubber stamp, and withdrew their support, which drew the scorn of the local arts community.

Hunter Morrison: We were quite sensitized by some of the real leaders in the arts business about the whole question of artist’s rights and what’s the appropriate relation between the public body and the artist.

After some closed door negotiations, Free Stamp was relocated next to City Hall, which inspired a few chuckles from local pundits.  And since then, the initial controversy over Billie Lawless’s “Politician” has also faded over the course of a decade.  A non profit group is currently negotiating to get the piece moved to a more pedestrian-friendly location. That’s just fine with the reluctant grown-up with the Mickey Mouse watch.

Billie Lawless: Any person who is a grown, rational human being can see the humor in it and laugh at it. And, if you’re a politician and you can’t, then perhaps you should be in another field.

Even Hunter Morrison is now a fan.

Hunter Morrison: I think it’s a neat piece, at this point, and the public officials who took umbrage at the time have moved on to other things, so life goes on.

David C. Barnett, 90.3.

Additional Information

Billie Lawless
Oldenburg's Free Stamp
Richard Serra's Tilted Arc