Shit Fountain

The Shit Fountain was installed on private (but highly visible) property at Wolcott and Augusta in East Village in 2005 by artist Jerzy Kenar, who owns the building at 1001 N. Wolcott and the adjoining garage/studio. The neighborhood's many dog walkers (of whom I am now proudly one) are reminded to scoop up their dog's piles by this monumental pile of bronze shit with gently flowing water. A mainly drunk and stoned late-night crowd can often be seen mirthfully appreciating/cellphotographing the fountain on their way from bar to neighborhood bar and stumbling home. This simple but nicely executed garden fountain/sculpture is a neighborhood icon, and a topic of websites of all kinds, from giant to tiny, blogs and photo albums, from flickr, myspace and youtube to realfanshitonly, yelp and casadepunk. I can only say that it's my favorite neighborhood art (I live two blocks away) so I always take out-of-towners to see it, to mixed reactions. At least there's always a reaction, though, which is more than I can say about lots of blander art in public that I (and my visitors) see around.