Peter Lundberg Sculpture

Giant concrete sculpture has moved from City Park to UNO

Peter Lundberg's 108-ton concrete sculpture, which rested horizontally in City Park since an unsuccessful installation attempt in May, has found a new home and a new name. The concrete and steel form, which resembles the eye of a gigantic needle, was too heavy to stand upright on the soft soil near the New Orleans Museum of Art, so it was allowed to rest safely on its face until a firmer footing could be found.

Lundberg said that he was allowed to move the behemoth to a spot near the University of New Orleans' art department, where, he said, he built a steel-reinforced, engineer-inspected concrete foundation to hold it upright. A crane, able to lift 500 tons, was used to retrieve and relocate the sculpture on Monday (Jan 31), Lundberg said. On Tuesday afternoon City Park ducks waded in the rain puddles created by the depressions in the soil left by the weighty sculpture, while, at UNO, caution tape and road barriers kept passersby at a distance from the 30-foot-tall artwork.

Lundberg originally dubbed the work "Mississippi Gateway," but decided to re-title it "Loup Garou." The Vermont artist said it is his custom to name his sculptures after mythological creatures associated with their locations. But, he said, at the time of the first installation attempt, he was unaware of the Louisiana werewolf myth. Lundberg, who spoke by phone from San Francisco, said he has four other enormous sculptures in the works; two in Germany and two in China. "Loup Garou" is among the largest he's produced.

In the months after Hurricane Katrina, Lundberg and sculptor Michael Manjarris formed an organization called Sculpture for New Orleans, which has placed dozens of artworks by international artists across New Orleans.