Oh sure, everybody was talking about the underwear hanging out in front of the Folly Theater, but the real highlight of the summer's Avenue of the Arts Intersection Art Project was Nate Fors' Toss. In principle, it was real simple: a bunch of innertubes stacked up around some light poles. But it did everything a public art piece should do. It seemed at once totally at home with and utterly anomalous to its environment. On the one hand, shabby old tires are common detritus in an urban landscape, and occasionally they're appropriated and stacked up for utilitarian or decorative use. On the other, it's just plain absurd to see them stacked so high and around an object that's permanent, city-owned, and exceedingly difficult to navigate. It forces casual onlookers to do a double take, which is exactly what public art should do. Yet it's not just some goofy, weird thing. Its very form astutely refers to a significant piece and theory in the history of sculpture: After all, wouldn't Brancussi eventually have run out of steel if he'd succeeded in constructing the Infinite Column? Our guess is he'd eventually have to start grabbing for some old tires.
