Thursday, February 1, 2018

Why...Can't I Just Enjoy The Art?


When I drive to work, I pass a few restaurants. Last week as I drove by, I noticed that one of them had an airplane in its parking lot. It's not that unusual to see planes on my drive home from work--we're about two miles from the Salt Lake International Airport. I wondered, though, if it was just a prop, or someone's functional plane that needed a place to stay.

Yesterday, I got my answer.

It's not just an airplane, it's now art.


I took a break from work to see if I could walk over to the restaurant and get a couple of close-up pictures of the plane. When I arrived a team of men with a crane were working to place it atop a tall pole--it's new home. I wished I could have filmed it being raised, but after about ten minutes of waiting, I had to go back. After work today, I snapped a picture of the finished work of art.

So why couldn't I enjoy it?

 I should clarify. I do enjoy it on some levels. I think a restaurant taking a plane and putting it twenty-plus feet into the air is cool. I appreciate all the work that it took to get that thing up there. It's eye-catching, a great feature for people renting rooms in the many hotels that surround the restaurant--most, I imagine, flew into the city on a plane. But when I realized what they were going to do with it, I kept thinking about stuff like--

What legal hoops did the restaurant have to jump through to get this approved? 

How much did it cost for them to buy the plane, or did the find it on Ebay?

Was the plane grounded due to mechanical issues?

And, perhaps my biggest issue, will the artwork survive the intense winds we sometimes get?


In the end, of course, the goal is to bring more traffic into their establishment. And honestly, I didn't even know a restaurant was there before the plane showed up. Chances are I will probably not eat there (because I'm so cheap...), but if I do, it will be because of that plane.

I hope all their work brings the results they want. I hope the plane stays up in the air (albeit stuck on a tall pole...) for years and years to come. And I hope next time I see something like this, my mind can enjoy it more. But knowing how my brain works, that probably won't happen.


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