Artist agrees to correct spelling errors

Associated Press
Oct. 15, 2004 08:48 AM

LIVERMORE, Calif. - Even art sometimes needs to go through a spell check.

A Miami artist has agreed to correct the spelling errors on the ceramic mural she assembled outside the city's new library.

Maria Alquilar, who originally refused to fix the misspellings despite being paid $40,000 for the project, said Assistant City Manager Jim Piper persuaded her to rethink her decision.

"He convinced me the easiest way to lay the matter to rest is to correct it," Alquilar said. "I really want people to see the work's meaning so they stop making issues of things that are unimportant."

Library staff counted 11 misspellings in the names of Einstein, Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo and seven other historical figures.

Alquilar, who has called the mosaic's message one of "enlightenment" and pursuit of knowledge, said officials overseeing the project bore some responsibility for not catching errors before she cemented the tiles.

The mosaic mess became a local controversy after the city acknowledged it would pay Alquilar $6,000 plus travel expenses to return and fix the misspellings.

Alquilar said she intends to sign a $6,000 contract to correct the errors, but plans to wait for the issue to cool down before she returns to do the work.

"I'm not racing out there right away, and when I do, it won't be with a big announcement," she said.



No matter how cynical I get, I just can't keep up.
- --LILY TOMLIN

I wanna see the mural!

Oh my lord.....Livermore people are some of the dumbest fuckasses I've ever known.

Artists... she was probably too touchy-feely to bother to figure out if she was CORRECT.  

notice that she's being paid to repair her errors? I read another article on this about 3 weeks ago where the lady defended her errors...it was pretty outrageous

eta: here's another article I found on this:
Mural Misspelling Editorial

Misspelled Mural
I know we linguists are all about descriptivism and not imposing standardized forms and so forth, so maybe I'm not supposed to think this is funny, but totally do—it's frickin' hilarious!

Money quote:

It didn't take a nuclear physicist to realize changes were needed after a $40,000 ceramic mural was unveiled outside the city's new library and everyone could see the misspelled names of Einstein, Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo and seven other historical figures.

It's the artist's reaction that kills me. She's gives off that "easy to work with" vibe, oh yes she does:

"The importance of this work is that it is supposed to unite people," Alquilar said. "They are denigrating my work and the purpose of this work."

and

"The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words," she said. "In their mind the words register correctly."

Translation for mere mortals who don't speak High Art:

You puny insects could never understand the True Purpose of Art! How dare you criticize Me and My Work! You're just going to have to get used to my Higher Orthography, which you must never question. Library, schmibrary!

Oh, you want your forty thousand dollars back? Sorry, no can do—that's not how Art works!


I'm curious exactly how she misspelled the names. This article says, "'Shakespeare' is missing the second 'a,' Michelangelo includes an extra 'a' and 'Einstein' has one 'n' too few," and also mentions that "Alquilar also misspelled van Gogh, adding a rogue 'u' to the Dutch painter's name." So, that's "Shakespere" for sure, either "Einstei" or more likely "Eistein", and probably "van Gough", but where did she squeeze in an extra "a" in "Michelangelo"? I suppose "Michaelangelo" is the best bet.

Some pictures of the mural:

Seems you can get away with anything with the excuse or "art"

Quoted: Some pictures of the mural: tinypic.com/cozko tinypic.com/cozl2 tinypic.com/cozlf

LMAO!  

Now she's a special individual.  Gotta say though, how did no one catch the errors as she was going along?

Quoted: Now she's a special individual.  Gotta say though, how did no one catch the errors as she was going along?

Ummm.....probably because they would have been labeled "narrow-minded, elitist, reactionary racists" if they had?

Quoted: Some pictures of the mural: tinypic.com/cozko tinypic.com/cozl2 tinypic.com/cozlf

What a moron. And BTW my 9 year old can do better art that that- and spell the names right, too.....

that thing is fucking ugly!

$40,000.00 for that...correction, $46,000.00..can you fathom it?
The average income in my area is about 18k/yr

more of her statements:
There were plenty of people around during the installation who could and should have seen the missing and misplaced letters, she said.

“Even though I was on my hands and knees laying the installation out, I didn’t see it,” she said.

The mistakes wouldn’t even register with a true artisan, Alquilar said.

“The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake’s concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words,” she said. “In their mind the words register correctly.”
______________
oh, brother

Quoted: that thing is fucking ugly!

I am so old, I remember when "art" was actually enjoyable to view.

Quoted: that thing is fucking ugly!

+1 ... 40K worth of crap ...

looking for pics and I found one other relevant article here:
Link

Misspelled library art do-over a no go says artist

RON HARRIS

Associated Press


SAN FRANCISCO - The artist who misspelled the names of famous people in world history on a large ceramic mosaic outside Livermore's new library can spell one word with ease: N-O.

That's Maria Alquilar's new position on fixing the typos.

She had planned to fly to California and put the missing "n" back in Einstein and remove the extra "a" in Michelangelo, among other fixes. But after receiving a barrage of what she called "vile hate mail," Alquilar said Livermore is off her travel itinerary and there'll be no changes by her artistic hand.

"No, I will not return to Livermore for any reason," Alquilar, of Miami, told The Associated Press in an e-mail. "There seems to be so much hatred within certain people. They continuously look for a scapegoat. I guess I am the sacrificial goat."

She previously told officials in Livermore, about 40 miles east of San Francisco, that she would fix the 11 misspellings. She asked for $6,000 plus travel expenses to correct the work they paid her $40,000 to create. The city council, faced with the embarrassing prospect of leaving the typo-strewn work in front of its spanking new library, voted 3-2 to approve the expenditure.

Now it appears the fix is a no go.

Livermore Mayor Marshall Kamena and Councilwoman Lorraine Dietrich did not return calls seeking comment on what their next move would be.

Alquilar explained that it took her a lot of time and money to create the work, a brightly colored 16-foot-wide circle made up of individual tiles depicting the names and images of famous people in world history.

She noted that plenty of people from the city were on hand during the installation who could and should have seen the errant spellings, she said.

"Even though I was on my hands and knees laying the installation out, I didn't see it," she said.

The mistakes wouldn't even register with a true artisan, Alquilar said before deciding to leave the work as is.

"The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words," she told The AP.

When asked whether she chose the words and names for the work or whether the city provided her with a list, Alquilar took an artistic stance in response.

"The art chose the words," she said.
_________
Interesting, no pics of the mistakes in her mural on her web page though she has pics of most of her other work

www.maria-alquilar.com/

40k for that? Are you fucking kidding me?  And she couldn't even spell the names right?  It looks like complete ass.  I gotta do that shit for a living.  Where do I sign up?

Quoted: looking for pics and I found one other relevant article here: Link (snip)She noted that plenty of people from the city were on hand during the installation who could and should have seen the errant spellings, she said. "Even though I was on my hands and knees laying the installation out, I didn't see it," she said.

"I am not responsible for my actions......It's not my fault- it's all the fault of the cold, unfeeling neo-con power structure....."

The mistakes wouldn't even register with a true artisan dumbass, Alquilar said before deciding to leave the work as is. "The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words," she told The AP. When asked whether she chose the words and names for the work or whether the city provided her with a list, Alquilar took an artistic stance in response. "The art chose the words," she said.

Oh. OK. Wel, nao ahm gona spel it jus de way i want. the art tchoaz my werds. it is also gona chooz noo spelings 4 hur naym 2. frum nao awn, maria alquilar iz gona b speld "phucking idiot"....

Now it appears the fix is a no go.

Not so fast. This'll fix that sucker right up:

I wonder what her reaction would be to having the whole thing chisled up and dropped in a dumpster? Think she'd cry?

Quoted: I wonder what her reaction would be to having the whole thing chisled up and dropped in a dumpster? Think she'd cry?

She's already crying...crying all the way to the bank.

Don't blame her, she's from Flori-DUh.

Quoted: Don't blame her, she's from Flori-DUh.

And looks like this.



She does "primitive painting", etc. This is a buzzword for "I'm too lazy to go out and learn to draw and paint properly."

Quoted: Oh my lord.....Livermore people are some of the dumbest fuckasses I've ever known.

HEY!!!

I live there.

Edited to ask if I can quote you for a sig line?

And I agree, the fucking thing is hideous.

It's not like we had a vote or something.

Hell I didn't even know there was a mural going in.

Even if I had, you couldn't see it. It was a huge construction project. The mural went in at the same time as the library was constructed. Construction sites are not open to the public.

It is a beautiful library. With a crappy mural. I think that they should tear it out and make her pay for it.

A quote from her website regarding art work:

The work must have universal appeal for the users of the site on all levels, intellectual, emotional and spiritual.

I'm no artist but a mural that looks like a drawing by a 5 year-old who misspelled the names of many historically and culturally important people has no intellectual appeal to me.  

I love her excuses for her incompetence. Some people need to learn some responsibility and how it is not ok to just pass the buck. This lady is a real idiot.