Scott Radke "Pipe People" on Auction

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 15:50.
 
Amy Weahry, over at Blackheart Cleveland has reported that Merrick House intends to sell at auction the other-worldly Scott Radke concrete pipe paintings, one of which is seen in the image above.  The strange faces of children are about as undecipherable as the lightening arrestors, switches, and transformer cooling fins on the pole mounted power equipment in the background.   I have stopped and taken photos of these pipe people a half dozen times, and have never known who the artist was - because there is no artist credit plaque I could find.   Lack of artist credit/recognition is common around Cleveland.   
 
Thanks Ms. Weahry for bringing me up to speed on Mr Radke.  
 
I checked out Scott Radke’s web site, and couldn’t find anything about the pipes – what is the name of the pipe people work?
 
Whoever bids at the auction will surely have in mind that moving these precast pipe sections will be a little more costly than bringing home a framed painting.
 
Maybe the pipes should just be moved in the neighborhood? or set on the edge of the bluff across the street.
 
(Ms. Weahry, btw, a few of the links in your report are not active - I couldn't find the Merrick house auction information – when is the auction?)

 

 

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always ask for a condition report when you buy at auction ...

Submitted by Evelyn Kiefer on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 21:49.

I like Scott Radke's work and I have noticed this piece before, but it appears to be deteriorating badly. I can see the paint flaking in the photo. Does the winning bidder get a restoration job from the artist? While a little decay seems to suit Radke's style and subject it would be a shame to see the image completely disappear in a few years.

Remembering the Pipe People

Submitted by lmcshane on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 08:42.

  I assume that the Pipe People will be busted apart. How will that happen?  Anyone know what the plans are for this corner, now that Merrick House is dismantling this "scuplture."  I was never a great fan of the mounds, though I love Scott Radke and consider his "other world" art a defining moment in Cleveland history, just as Mort Epstein's murals promoting interrelational peace, were for me, growing up in the seventies and eighties.
 

I hope all of Radke's outdoor murals have been inventoried, cataloged and photographed.  I imagine most will disappear and go unrecorded.  Does Cleveland Public Art maintain a database, the Sculpture Center...I can't remember who made it their mission to chronicle our outdoor art...