Hi, my names Chris Johanson,
and were in Los Angeles,
at my studio in Highland Park
And Ive been thinking about
public sculpture a lot lately
Public sculpture, to me,
is the peoples art
Everybody gets to see it
Its like a breath of fresh air,
when you see public sculpture
I dont care what it is
I dont even care if I like it
I just think its great
Its another space for philosophical questions to happen
You know, a gas pump is a sculpture
But thats at the gas station
An ATM is a sculpture,
but its to get money out
A billboard to sell fast food or clothes or whatever
Its just nice when you see a sculpture,
because its not really to sell anything
except for philosophical-in-between-moment energy
And thats important for the same reason
its important to read or to listen to music
or be involved with anything
Its soul food for your brain or whatever
Since were, like thinking animals,
it makes you wanna make art
that poses questions sometimes, I think
What are we doing, you know,
with our time?
What does life mean?
What does death mean?
All my art is really simple
Conceptually, very basic
Theres nothing to it,
except for what you see is what you get
I just thought, wow, I would like
like to make a giant question mark
I think itd be good for the people to see one,
for philosophical reasons
And then I could make something
out of recycled materials,
the discarded pieces of material
that are gonna just get
probably thrown away by the company
that makes the inflatables
I was really fond of those figures
that you see on the sides of a road,
you know I always really liked those,
cause I think theyre funny
What better place for a question mark
than in a park,
that people could walk past
And its filled up with hot air
Just like us, you know;
we are filled with air
And then were not filled with air
Then we go to the next place
And then who knows what happens then?
I dont
Its a trip
My hope with the pieces
is that they are ultimately,
positive interactions for people,
in that they resonate a quality of bitter-sweet,
reasonable energy, in that life is totally
life is completely bitter-sweet
Lifes not fair
But that doesnt mean that life isnt fun
