Plop art (or plonk art) is a pejorative

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

term for

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

(usually large, abstract, modernist or contemporary sculpture) made for government or corporate plazas, spaces in front of office buildings, skyscraper atriums, parks, and other public venues. The term connotes that the work is unattractive or inappropriate to its surroundings – that it has been thoughtlessly "plopped" where it lies. ''Plop art'' is a play on the term pop art. Some defenders of public art funding have tried to reclaim the term. The book ''Plop: Recent Projects of the Public Art Fund'' celebrates the success of the

Public Art Fund Public Art Fund is an independent, non-profit arts organization founded in 1977 by Doris Freedman, Doris C. Freedman. The organization presents contemporary art in New York City's public spaces through a series of highly visible artists' projects, n ...

in financing many publicly placed works of art over the last few decades, many of which are now beloved, though they may at first have been derided as "ploppings".

Origins

The term was coined by architect

James Wines James Wines (born 1932) is an American artist and architect associated with environmental design. Wines is founder and president of SITE,

in a 1970 essay, ''Public Art–Private Art'', published in

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...

. The term has been taken up by others, including British sculptor

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British Ar ...

. "Right now architecture and sculpture are calling to each other, and calling for responses that's intelligent, not for more ghastly lumps of sculpture ... which have no sense of scale and are just plonked down in public places." —

Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' industrial objects. His style was of the modernist school, having worked with Henry Moor ...

(1924–2013), English sculptor.From an interview with Tim Marlowe for ''Tate: The Art Magazine'', 1994.

References

{{Reflist Contemporary art Modern art Slang Public art

Origins

See also

References