Some business visitors that came in from out of town last week pushed me over the edge regarding the objects that have been placed on I-10 near the airport exit.
We are told that those things are art.
Not being a qualified art critic, I have chosen to remain silent about them.
The out of town visitors were amused at our folly. They said that the objects were “ridiculous” and “ugly”. One commented that El Paso must have a lot of money if it can spend it on things like that.
Of the locals I have spoken with I have not found a single person who liked what they saw.
Someone told me once that art is neither good nor bad — that the purpose is to evoke emotion in the viewer. That seems to me to be a platitude justifying failure.
However, if evoking emotion is the goal of art then these pieces are successful.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
They look like junk that a tractor-trailer lost or things that fell out of a pick-up while moving and someone placed them beside the road so drivers would not run over them.
They look like they will fall onto the highway and cause a problem.
ANY. . . . . . ANY. . . . DISTRACTIONS like this along the side of the road could cause a driver to flinch as their peripheral vision catches it while driving in heavy traffic and those ahead are slamming on their brakes.
NOTHING. No art, no weird signs, no distractions please at 60-70-80 miles per hour.
Absolutely NO.
NOTHING should be beside the highway at that speed that is not a highway-safety feature.
I dont like the “art” but even if it is “bad art” it still
SHOULD NOT BE IN THE DRIVERS VISION while driving.
If that crap comes loose/ wind/ rust/ a car wreck or whatever. . . .
It should not EVER be laying on I-10.
Is it possible for someone to loosen the bolts during the night?
(like the graffiti people and taggers.)
That would be a real danger on the road.
TXDOT should remove it.
Whoever paid for these, or ordered these, did not get their monies worth. Someone contracted for “unseen art” and had to spend the money after signing some kind of “contract” and was forced to accept it.
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Yeah, it (the “art” on I-10 at Airway) sort-of represents El Paso. . . as in twisted metal after a night of drunk drivers in El Paso.
Have you noticed all the drunk driver wrecks all over town every Monday morning? Rock walls driven into during the all drunk driver weekends we have here.
Have you seen all the MASSIVE One-Two Ton Boulders and huge rocks, Kansas style steel highway guard rails, and telephone poles now up in front of many corner homes and on every curved street?
Drunk drivers. Every weekend.
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We’re turning in to New Mexico.
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The All-Drunk-Driver-Weekends in El Paso:
Can you imagine what the excuse is . . . when a Realtor is trying to sell a home with 18 short telephone poles (With big RED Reflectors too) in front of the house?
I suppose this affects the price and salability of a home and is not even the home owners fault.
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I purpose a NEW Video Game:
Drunk Driving in El Paso !
The object of the video game is to avoid Drunk Drivers
while minding your own business and driving safely in El Paso.
The game will feature not only Drunk Drivers but those on cell phones and texting on smart phones,
tailgaters, those that “Talk with Their Hands” while driving, those that insist on LOOKING at the other passengers while driving, and those who speed to a stop sign and you don’t know if they are REALLY going to stop or drive right thru the Stop Sign and you’ll have less than One Second to SLAM on your Brakes.
What fun!
Be sure to avoid all the broken rock walls lying in the streets and twisted vehicles!
The Drunk Driving in El Paso Video Game: “Its just like being there !”
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Yes…Like a fungus it will grow on you and very difficult to get rid of…almost as attractive of the TOO D#*% MANY “Street Art Bill Boards” on the eye10.
😦
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Public Outcry: Our freeways look terrible and are just miles and miles of concrete.
Public Outcry: Our freeways look terrible because they are not miles and miles of concrete.
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It qualifies as an act of vandalism in my book. It’s embarrassing. Somebody got paid to do that. I wonder who. I wonder who authorized it.
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I understand they will be illuminated at night. Another reason to avoid I-10, but once the Brio works begin on parallel roads such as Montana there won’t be an option.
This is a project of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Dept. See the link here – although the MCAD page says it is celebrating El Paso’s artists, this was done by someone from Seattle, who won’t have to live with it every day. http://www.culturenow.org/entry&permalink=18145&seo=Airway-Gateway_Jacobs-Engineering-Group-Vicki-Scuri-and-City-of-El-Paso-MCAD
According to the page, the design had to be approved by TXDOT.
As for who paid for this, you did. This is a taxpayer-funded program.
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The expensive art at the Faux University ballpark was also done by out-of-town artists. Being the Chihuahuas that they are, they threw one local Latino artist a bone.
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If that is art, no wonder so many artists are unemployed. Just another thing for visitors to laugh at while in El Paso.
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Let us now hear from anyone under the mental age of 70 on this…(let the flame wars begin)
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If it is necessary to insult those who do not agree that this is a great addition to the city landscape, you apparently don’t have much of an argument to make on behalf of the installation itself.
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Deputy knows a lot about art because he hangs out with Vincent Van Gopher.
I do admit, however, that it’s pretty funny that someone who uses the moniker Deputy Dawg brings up the subject of mental age.
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