After several false alarms, Neil Hadlock's stainless-steel sculpture "An Urban Allegory" has been installed on the east plaza of the Delta Center facing 300 West.
Originally, the sculpture was to be installed June 18. But that date continued to change until finally Tuesday the three sculpture pieces were placed on their concrete bases.According to Nancy Boskoff, executive director of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, the call for entries that went out in the spring of '91 attracted about 50 artists. With the exception of a muralist and a couple of other artists, most applicants worked three-dimensionally.
Boskoff said that the fact that the sculpture was for a sports arena triggered a lot of original ideas.
The selection committee consisted of five members from the Salt Lake Art Design Board who had been appointed by the mayor. Others attending the meetings but who did not participate in the final vote were Delta Center owner Larry Miller as well as representatives from FFKR Architects, the Salt Lake engineering office and the Salt Lake Redevelopment Agency. It was reported that the atmosphere was congenial and collaborative throughout all the meetings.
After a lot of deliberation, the committee reduced the number to six semifinalists. From that group, they were to select one.
However, they reached a decision in the summer of '91 that two commissions would be given - one for inside of the Delta Center and the other for outside.
When Neil Hadlock submitted his proposal, he thought that the committee would select only one. But when he was told he would be sharing the commission with another, he willingly scaled his down. Instead of marble-covered bases, Hadlock had to choose concrete instead. However, no compromise was made in the quality of the sculptures.
The other sculptor was Kazuo Matsubayashi. He was awarded $15,000 to create 24 aluminum screens covered with faint images of whales. They hang from the atrium in the north part of the Delta Center. Matsubayashi is a professor of architecture at the University of Utah.
The remainder of the commission - $75,000 - went to Had-lock.
Of course, when a new sculpture is erected, especially one that is semi- or totally nonobjective, there are complaints.
"It's just a piece of junk," one advocate of realistic western sculpture stated.
But what does Dennis Smith, who was one of the five finalists, say?
"I've been familiar with the piece from its inception," he said. "I think it's a very rich, handsome piece. It integrates well with the contemporary facade of the Delta Center. But it isn't a typical contemporary sculpture. The draped figure harks back to classical sculpture. The symbolism of pillars has the classicism of old architecture in capitol buildings. It (the entire sculpture) has a dimension of content with which the normal person can relate."
Hadlock is not only a sculptor and painter. He's also an art instructor at Brigham Young University.