Dennis RomeroSee also:
*Can Paul Conrad's Mushroom Cloud Sculpture in Santa Monica Be Saved?
Paul Conrad's lasting statement on the nuclear arms race, the mushroom cloud scuplture “Chain Reaction,” is now an official landmark in Santa Monica.
The city's landmarks commission voted unanimously on the designation yesterday, according to Jerry “Peace Activist” Rubin, who has been fasting to save the artwork.
Conrad was a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times who died in 2010. “Chain Reaction” …
… took the form of his newsprint style, symbolic, ironic, and never silly.
The designation, unfortunately, doesn't mean the circa 1991 chain-link sculpture of steel and fiberglass will be saved.
Credit: 'Save the Chain Reaction' / Facebook
Santa Monica Patch says about a quarter-million dollars needs to be raised to preserve or it could be decommissioned.
The sculpture is corroding and might be endangered in a storm.
Rubin says the fundraising is underway:
Paul Conrad's wife Kay Conrad and son David Conrad spoke at the meeting, along with anti-nuclear community activists and artists, all urging the commissioners to support landmark designation for Conrad's unique, creative and monumental sculpture.
David Conrad said after the vote that the Conrad family and community will continue with their fundraising efforts to help repair and strengthen “Chain Reaction.”
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