50-Foot-Tall Pile of Boats
Austin, Texas
The tangle of boats on a university street corner resembles an epic, drunken regatta disaster.
Artist Nancy Rubins assembled 75 old and new aluminum canoes, then arrayed and suspended them with metal cable, up to 50-ft. in the air. "Monochrome for Austin," as it's named, was unveiled in January 2015.
Visually, it's very arresting -- like a wild metal fern. We're not sure how to feel about the uniqueness of the pile of boats, since we've seen the same artist execute essentially the same idea in other places such as a hotel in Las Vegas and an art gallery in Buffalo, NY.
It could be argued that a pile of canoes is endlessly fascinating, and especially amusing to view in a downpour or hurricane. One plus is that the artwork is engineered to not fall down on bystanders, even in high winds.