J. Seward Johnson

One of the most famous paintings in American history has arrived in Mesa in a three-dimensional - and very large - format.

A sculpture called "God Bless America" is being installed at Main and Macdonald streets. The 25-foot-tall work by J. Seward Johnson is so big it takes a crane to lift the pieces.

It's modeled after the painting "American Gothic" by Iowa artist Grant Wood, whose image of a plain and stoic farm couple not only has been ingrained in the national psyche, but also endlessly parodied.

The sculpture arrived from its previous gig in Chicago. Christy Wulf, marketing and event coordinator for the Downtown Mesa Association, said DMA and the Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau are paying the estimated $18,000 cost.

Both organizations are subsidized by Mesa, but the city has no direct say in how they spend their money and funding for the sculpture display will not come from the city budget.

DMA also has paid for previous "Scultpure in the Street" events that have drawn visitors downtown.

DMA president Tom Verploegen said his organization got a special deal on the lease arrangement, which normally would have cost $35,000. The sculpture itself is valued at $560,000, he said.

Johnson, in talking about the sculpture, has said it was a purposeful relook at Wood's famous 1930 painting.

"I want to invite us all to look back at these images and discover what we've learned since they first became icons to us, and how our understanding or point of view may have shifted since then," Johnson was quoted as saying in a DMA press release. "Would they be embraced in the same way if they came to us today? Would we view them with more cynicism or can we still see purity at this stage of our social maturity?"

The sculpture will be in Mesa until mid-July.

"It kind of re-emphasises that we are a community that's got a lot of art," Wulf said.