Two San Diego Bay artworks are drawing objections as the veterans park's future looms.
San Diego – The 25 foot foam and urethane statue entitled Unconditional Surrender stands tall in the parkway along the waterfront in San Diego. The statue, which was modeled after a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt taken in Times Square on V-J Day at the end of World War II, is set to leave by end February.
The 25-foot tall statue stands near the Midway Museum on the Embarcadero. It has been on loan for the last five years, but it is set to go back to artist J. Seward Johnson's Sculpture Foundation in Santa Monica.
There have been conflicting feedback to keep the statue or let it go. Architect Donald J. Reeves and his wife, Julia, were high school sweethearts during World War II, when Donald left to join the Navy. The statue holds a special meaning for them, so they are determined to keep the kissing sailor and nurse in San Diego."We want to make it a story that people tell their children," explained Donald Reeves.
However, the foam and urethane statue is not designed to endure the ravages of time and weather, and it is in desperate need for a repair.
Donald Reeves wants to erect a painted bronze version in its place, permanently. While it would cost $990,000, Reeves said, "It's just one small gesture that I think we owe San Diego, we owe the sailors."
Right now, the money is not the statue's biggest obstacle. The Port of San Diego's Public Art Committee is.
The advisory committee voted against a permanent statue because the majority of the members said it does not meet artistic standards.
Committee member Michael Krichman said the review criterion was set by the Port's board. The criteria includes that art donations for the Port have artistic excellence and creativity. Krichman said he and others do not feel "Unconditional Surrender" meets the criteria.
The kiss caught in the photo was natural, not posed, and that spontaneity was thought to have captured the mood of the time.
"So many people don't know the story of WWII," said Julia Reeves.
She said the statue stirs deep emotion for her partly because it represents victory for the U.S. after a difficult chapter in history. She hopes the statue will be here for future generations so they never forget.
The couple is looking for donations to cover the cost of a permanent statue.
The Port's board of directors is set to discuss the issue Tuesday at 1 p.m.
"It's a snapshot at the end of World War 2," said architect Donald Reeves. "That's all it is. It's not ... some image of something that a sculptor thought out."
Art critics say it's "kitschy" and "tacky." Tourists seem taken with its romanticism. Couples like to mimic its pose.
"I love the colors, I love the form, " said Johanna Salomon Otero of Buenos Aires, Argentina. "I know it's a very famous photo. And sitting here, it's like 'Oh my gosh, it's real!'"
Said Lindsay Brinkman of Bloomington, Minn.: "I can see where some people would say, 'Oh yeah, that's tacky.' Because it's not a bronze or a metal. But why can't tacky be good? Why can't tacky be okay?"
There are much bigger projects, also with aesthetic issues, looming over the bayfront, including a half-billion-dollar expansion of the Convention Center and the billion-dollars-plus Navy Broadway/Pacific Gateway complex.
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