Photo Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
A 10-ton Jean Dubuffet sculpture in Chicago is being relocated after Google acquired the building facing the space where it is currently set.
The 1984 sculpture Monument with Standing Beast, which rises 29 feet into the air, has stood in front of the James R. Thompson Center, a government office, for more than 30 years. Now, it will reside elsewhere in the city, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, which reported news of the sculpture’s move on Monday, just a few days after Google bought the building for $105 million.
The fiberglass sculpture will now reside at 115 S. LaSalle Street, the site of a former bank.
Monument with Standing Beastis an abstraction done in Dubuffet’s signature style of amorphous white forms outlined in black. It is one of just three public artworks by the French artist that were commissioned for sites in the U.S.
While the work’s title alludes to a creature that is not explicitly represented, it has obtained an informal reputation in Chicago as “Snoopy in a blender.” Dubuffet thought of it more seriously, referring to it as a “drawing which extends… into space.”
The sculpture has been at its current site since the building opened in 1985. Ruth Horwich, a collector who helped found the Museum of Contemporary Art, and her family donated the work in memory of her late husband Leonard.
It’s still unclear when Monument with Standing Beastwill be moved. A representative for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services told the Sun-Times that there was no timeline for its relocation yet.
