Whither the turd?

Hey Matt:

Where did the giant turd go? I used to enjoy including Scripps Clinic on local sightseeing tours. What work of public "art" can possibly take the place of this goofy installation?

-- Bob Tepedino, Hillcrest

Make that the critically acclaimed, million-dollar turd, Bob. British sculptor William Tucker's Okeanos has been removed to a spot on the property that will bring it less ridicule and fewer jeers. Local philistines will have to make some extra effort and go out of their way to laugh at it. A replacement? If I were a Scripps curator, I'd have somebody carve a big concrete middle-finger salute. Or get Claes Oldenberg to design a giant orange colonoscopy probe. But you can bet the spot will be planted in geraniums. Noncontroversial colors only. Sigh... Okay, it's gone. Everybody happy now?

Oh, Crap!

Hey Matt: I am loath to be the bearer of bad news, but "The Turd" isn't gone. It has been flushed to John J. Hopkins Drive, just off Genesee [UCSD area].

--Will, the net

I didn't mean it was gone, like, melted down and turned into handguns or garden gnomes or something more acceptable than the sculpture. I just meant that it was elsewhere. Moved from its old site. I was willing to leave it at that. If you hate the thing, you don't care where it's gone so long as you don't have to look at it, right? If you love it, you don't need me to tell you its new location. I was hoping to spare the sculpture more whines and sneers and tiresome bad jokes. But enough of you wrote to say the thing wasn't "gone" that I figured I'd give you a little space. So, if you hate the thing, a little careful reconsideration might modify your take on it, or just avoid John J. and Genesee. If you love it, the elves and I say good for you.