在最近的一个清晨走在内河码头Plaza, the sky was radiant. The bay glimmered and seagulls swooped around the tower of the Ferry Building. The view felt more like a postcard than real life, until my gaze fell on the twisted mass of stark concrete tubes, spouts and protruding forms on the northwest side of the plaza that make up the Vaillancourt Fountain. The water looked a little … different. It was a slimy shade of kelp-like green. Against the weathered concrete of the fountain, the color was shocking, like bile or some toxic cleaning solution. It looked both comical (a St. Patrick’s Day prank months early?) and a little dangerous. As I watched the blocky, acne-textured tubes puke out green liquid, I felt my heart swell.
Extremely unpopular opinion: I love the Vaillancourt Fountain in all it’s insane Prada-ugly Brutalist glory. It’s so severe and confrontational it’s actually wonderful. The puking green makes it even better! See also Lawrence Halprin’s fountain at U.N. Plaza in Civic Center.https://t.co/lqr6tWN8U9
— Tony Bravo (@TonyBravoSF)December 10, 2020
“What a beautiful sight,” I whispered, to which I heard some of you saying, “Excuse me?”
It’s not hard to appreciate the magnificence of classic San Francisco landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower or the Palace of Fine Arts. To love the aesthetically confrontational, oft-maligned Vaillancourt Fountain puts you in a much smaller club.
Since its debut in 1971, Quebecois artist Armand Vaillancourt’s fountain has been controversial. The massive sculptural work was partially a response to the equally blocky and concreteEmbarcadero Freewaythat once stood behind it. In that context, photos show the fountain in conversation with the overpasses and pillars that made up the behemoth roadway. Since the freeway was demolished in 1991, however, Vaillancourt has stood alone, the centerpiece statement of the plaza and a bigger target for haters. Even with its history as the setting for afamous 1987 U2 concert,there have been calls to demolish it, especially given thelulls in maintenance. (The green color of the water that day was probablya chemical cleaning treatment.)
I get it. Vaillancourt is a prime example of Brutalism, an art and architecture movement from the 1950s-70s that favored rough, unfinished surfaces, unusual shapes and heavy-looking materials. Like Brutalism, the fountainhas been calledugly, aggressive-looking and inhospitable. It’s quite possibly all of those things, but without the freeway overshadowing it, the fountain’s two-story mass of rectangles is now spectacularly positioned against the waterfront and sky, contrasting with the natural beauty of the area. Vaillancourt is gorgeously stark, wonderfully abstract (practically cubist!) and fabulously eccentric in a city that professes to value risky and cutting-edge art.
I’m the ideal audience for a work like Vaillancourt. A lot of my taste veers toward art and design that other people can find confusing, or horrifying. When I see an asymmetricalComme des Garconsjacket with a synthetic hair collar, my first thought is“I wonder if I could wear that to dinner?” I take pleasure in works by Goya, Hieronymus Bosch, Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois and Otto Dix that other people find unsettling, or even repulsive. Often, I’ve found myself in the position of defending certain kinds of artistic “ugliness,” just as I’ve stood up for the Vaillancourt Fountain when some people cringe at its mention.
Vaillancourt is not a perfect work. Walking through it on the stepping-stone path, you see areas that are cracked and places where plants have started to grow on the structure. The balcony walkway, which allows you to look down into the fountain and across the plaza, is currently closed to the public, and the texture in places looks like it’s wearing off. It could definitely usesome care from the city.
The structure itself isn’t exactly welcoming, but unlike San Francisco’s more beloved landmarks, it’s also rarely crowded. That’s perfectly fine with me.
We need art that disrupts and disturbs us as much as we need art that pleases and soothes. The Vaillancourt Fountain does all those things for me. I’m sure it will continue to be an object of controversy, derision and, most important, discussion in the future. Good. While the masses flock to more obvious landmarks, I’ll happily be enjoying the brutal beauty of Vaillancourt, no matter what color the water turns.