From major cities to small towns, works of art have been placed out in the open for the general public to admire...without having to pay the museum ticket price. Your challenge this week is to find some art (sculpture, graffiti, topiary, etc...) but also include enough context via the surrounding scene to reveal the public nature of it. But wait, there's more. While choosing your shot, also try and present it in an artistic manner (i.e. not just looking for snaps of public art, though those will be judged also as I'm not sure how doable this last part of the challenge will prove to be).

This competition is open from now until midnight EST on Saturday February 25, 2012


Have fun with this!


The fine print....
1. Post ONE photo (max 1024x1024).
2. The photo must portray an interpretation of the theme.
3. Post your single picture in this thread, and explain what motivated you to take the picture and/or how you feel it represents the weekly theme (especially if it's not obvious).
4. The challenge is interactive. Any response is welcome.
5. The judge will pick the WINNERS and choose 1 of them to be the judge for the next week.
6. This challenge runs for 7 days plus a day for the judge to choose the winners.
7. Any Pentax (or Samsung DSLR) camera will do.
8. Pictures can be from any time frame, not just within the week of the current theme.
9. In case the winner of a challenge is unable to become the judge for the next challenge, they will PM the #2 winner for that person to be the judge.



Previous Challenge Subjects:
1-Statues, 2-Wheels, 3-Speed, 4-Peace, 5-Survival, 6-Macro, 7-Mountains, 8-Children, 9-Post Processing, 10- Windows & Doors, 11-Sport, 12-Urban Landscape, 13-Wisdom, 14-Power, 15-Music, 16-Pathways, 17-Lines, 18-Storm, 19-Boats, 20-Water, 21 - Golden Hour, 22 - Natural Lighting, Portraits, 23-Motion Blur, 24-Simplicity, 25-Color, 26-Cars, 27-Repetition, 28-Wildlife, 29-Epiphany, 30-Contrast, 31-Pets, 32-Landscapes, 33-Coastal, 34-Churches, 35-Bridges, 36-Creation, 37-Still Life: Food, 38-At the Zoo, 39-Wide Aperture, 40-Merry Christmas, 41- Sunsets, 42-Action, 43-Fireworks, 44-Manipulated Light Portraits, 45- Advertising/Product Shot, 46- B&W Street Shooting, people/buildings, 47-Vanishing Point, 48-Reflection, 49-Tranquility, 50-Expressions, 51-S Curve, 52-Hands, 53-Shadows, 54-Your Favorite Beverage, 55-Barriers, 56-Perspective, 57-Night Scenes, 58-Zen-like...Water and Stone 59-Modern architecture, 60-Sunrises, 61-Red, 62-Action on water, 63-Bodies in Motion, 64-Ruins, 65-Blue and green, 66-Iridescence, 67-Anthropomorpha, 68-Sound, 69-Backlight, 70-Group Shot, 71-Railway Scenes, 72-Technology, 73-Color on Color, 74-History, 75-Autumn/Harvest 76-working men and women, 77-Silhouettes, 78 Stranger Portrait, 79-Transportation, 80 - Lonely, 81 - Holidays, 82 - Toys 'n Games, 83 - Machines, 84 - Ice, 85 - Cats, 86 - Stories, 87 - Cultures, 88 - Absence, 89 - Weather, 90 - Old roads, 91 - The River, 92 - The Seventies, 93 - Beautiful Bokeh, 94 - Balance, 95 - Crop a miniature landscape, 96 - Opposing gravity, 97- Feet, 98 - Sacred Grounds, 99 - Extraordinarily Ordinary, 100-added textures, 101-still life, 102-bicycles, 103 - Broken, 104- Flowers (B&W), 105 Backlighting, 106-Water. 107-Wind, 108-Parent/Child candids, 109-Passion, 110-Events, 111-Streets, 112-The Aged, 113-Fire and Heat, 114-Nature vs. Culture, 115 - Letters or Numbers, 116 - Self-Portrait, 117 - The Tree, 118 - Minimalism, 119 - Rust, 120 - Before & After, 121 - Negative Space, 122 - Decay & Dereliction, 123 - Cold, 124 - Melancholy, 125 - The Element of Time, 126 - Public Transportation, 127 - Yin Yang, 128 - Sepia or Dual Tone, 129 - Hand Coloring, 130 - Light Trails, 131-Once in a lifetime, 132 - Moms & Motherhood, 133 - Beautiful Blur, 134 - B&W Abstract, 135 - History, 136 - In and around the kitchen, 137 - Habit, 138 - Perspective: From the Ground Up, 139- Mist/fog, 140 No faces, 141-Bubbly, 142- The 'hood, 143-Green, 144-Garbage, 145-Emotion, 146 - Events, 147-Seasons. 148-Building and/or Construction 149-Chiarouscuro, 150-A Day In The Life, 151 - Religion, 152 - Home, 153 - The Decisive Moment, 154 - People in uniform, 155 - Sound, 156 - Hope, 157 - Weather, 158 - Cliches, 159 - Colorful Landscapes, 160 - Schrooms, 161 - Weathered, 162 - Where Angels Fear to Tread.., 163 - Incongruity, 164 The Monochrome Landscape, 165-Trick Photography, 166-Alleyways, 167-Monuments, 168-A View From Above, 169-The Moon, 170-Logo, 171-Thorns, 172-Tree Study 173-Tools, 174 - Cornucopia, 175 - Steps, 176 - Night streetshots, 177 - Tropical Paradise, 178 - Ceremonies, 179 - Takeoff/Landing, 180 - Street Corner, 181- Let's Get Wide, 182 - Boundaries, 183 - Distant, 184 - A life on the Edge, 185-Photos suggesting song titles, 186-Passion, 187-Engine, 188-Center Composition, 189-Long Exposure, 190-Holes,191-Roadside Discovery, 192 Opposite Life, 193-One of these things is not like the other (or, standing out from the crowd),194-From the Farm, 195-Art in Public,

[jmschrei]

I'll start this one off. I have taken quite a few shots of public art in the downtown core but this is by far my favourite.

[atupdate]

Sometimes the building itself is art.



Tim

[Tamia]

Wow, nice entries so far. About the only public art in my neck of the woods (emphasis on the word woods) is graffiti, whether carved into trees and picnic tables, or painted on bridges and roads. This is the most unusual and compelling I've ever seen around here, a rather enigmatic painting on the apron leading to a bridge over the river:

The Bridge Spirit

[Rense]

Most historical buildings are considered art nowadays by some...

[maucardona]

San Jose, Costa Rica

[tessfully]

wow, love the urban art!

Not much around my area, and I don't know if you would consider this "art" but unless I find something better in the coming week this will be my submission

[Bramela]

Artistic Fountain Sculpture

[jackassp]

I'd like to join. Hope you all don't mind.

Here is my interpretation of the theme... A sculpture in the CBD of Perth Western Australia, surrounded by people going about their everyday activities.
You can even walk through this.

(Tonemapped for extra presence)




Taken with Pentax K-5 and DA21 LTD.

[lukulele]

Sarasota, Florida-bayside art.

[ramseybuckeye]

[xjjohnno]

Melbourne public art sculpture.

[daacon]

The Crown Fountain at Chicago's Millennium Park. The fountain consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images from a broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens, a reference to the traditional use of gargoyles in fountains, where faces of mythological beings were sculpted with open mouths to allow water, a symbol of life, to flow out. Plensa adapted this practice by having faces of Chicago citizens projected on LED screens and having water flow through a water outlet in the screen to give the illusion of water spouting from their mouths. The collection of faces, Plensa's tribute to Chicagoans, was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 residents.

[SpecialK]

[Mike L]

Tough choice for me, street art was my favourite subject when I lived in London so I've got dozens of shots that fit the theme but I decided to go for this one.

From the Leake Street tunnel in London