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The controversial Nails’ Tales sculpture — which critics say resembles an ear of corn or male genitalia — is set to be removed Wednesday, according to UW-Madison.

Nails' Tales is a fifty-foot spike of white concrete. Bottom 2/5ths is 5 foot square in section; top 3/5ths is many tiny footballs tightly clustering into a 6-inch point. I see "turd monument" more than "ear of corn."

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From:

sovay

Bottom 2/5ths is 5 foot square in section; top 3/5ths is many tiny footballs tightly clustering into a 6-inch point.

That's hilarious. It doesn't look especially phallic to me except in that it's vertical, but it does look weirdly as though it's decaying. What was it supposed to do?

From:

isis

I agree. Not phallic, not very turd-y either.

From:

jesse_the_k

It has been the object of great scorn since its *ahem* erection 14 years ago.

Function? It's a mystery. The title is opaque. It's at the front door to UW-Madison's stadium/field house/ice rink complex, so perhaps it stans for the wonder of football?

From:

grayduck

I was just there last week - literally, standing right at the bottom of that sculpture. I have to admit, I said "Why do they have a monument to deer poo?" to my husband. He didn't know either.

From:

bibliofile

Context matters? It's in front of the football stadium.

(I didn't know what deer poo looked like until recently, myself. Football shapes are harder to avoid.)

From:

jesse_the_k

And given that it's an educational setting, it's sad they missed an opportunity to clue you in.

I claim that's because it's inexplicable.

From:

esteefee

Inexplicable...turd monument? but no more so, I suppose, than this, the "Peace Fountain" from St. John the Divine Cathedral in NYC, which I passed every day on the way to class and puzzled the ELF out of me.

Bronze statue has a two-headed giraffe arched back with an angel breaking its other neck upon a moon face atop a crab with hands and Satans head dangling down. it is gold and green oxidized.

From:

sovay

but no more so, I suppose, than this, the "Peace Fountain" from St. John the Divine Cathedral in NYC, which I passed every day on the way to class and puzzled the ELF out of me.

I had never seen that before and I hope you are all right with the fact that I burst out laughing. I'm still trying to figure out who some of those limbs belong to.

From:

jesse_the_k

It would take months to detangle the limbs etc.

Perhaps this complex piece calls back to the blessing of the animals held annually at the cathedral?

From:

esteefee

oh sweet jesu. bring one camel, bless one for free!

alas, no, for twice the fun, here is the plaque on the fountain. it explains all!!!!!

Peace Fountain celebrates the triumph of Good over Evil, and sets before us the world's opposing forces—violence and harmony, light and darkness, life and death—which God reconciles in his peace.When the fountain operates, four courses of water cascade down the freedom pedestal into a maelstrom evoking the primordial chaos of Earth. Foursquare around the base, flames of freedom rise in witness to the future. Ascending from the pool, the freedom pedestal is shaped like the double helix of DNA, the key molecule of life. Atop the pedestal a giant crab reminds us of life's origins in sea and struggle. Facing West, a somnolent Moon reflects tranquility from a joyous Sun smiling to the East. The swirls encircling the heavenly bodies bespeak the larger movements of the cosmos with which earthly life is continuous.

Nine giraffes—among the most peaceable of animals—nestle and prance about the center. One rests its head on the bosom of the winged Archangel Michael, described in the bible as the leader of the heavenly host against the forces of Evil. St. Michael's sword is vanquishing his chief opponent, Satan, whose decapitated figure plunges into the depths, his head dangling beneath the crab's claw. Tucked away next to the Sun, a lion and lamb relax together in the peace of God's kingdom, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah.