-By Warner Todd Huston
I finally made it downtown to see the absurd Marilyn Monroe statue that sits in Pioneer Court, the public mall area next to Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue near the Chicago River. I have to say it is as tacky in person as it seems in photos. Moreso, maybe.
The paean to Marilyn Monroe’s famous sewer grate scene in the movie “The Seven Year Itch” went up in early July. It was created by New Jersey artist Seward Johnson and portrays Monroe as she stood above the sewer grate, dress flying in the air, face in that patented Monroe look of ecstasy.
To me, however, it resembles not so much a sculpture as it does a cheap kewpie doll-like, carnival prize. Unfortunately, it isn’t kewpie doll sized but is so big at 26-feet-tall that you can’t simply dismiss it as mere kitsch.
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Chicago’s Marilyn Monroe Stature: From the Windy City to the Tacky City”