Big public art displays put a smile on my face

I love big, bold displays of art in public places. The more fanciful the better. I’m sure a lot of people share my feelings.
Growing up I was enchanted by the work of Christo, who would drape buildings and landscapes in colorful cloth for a limited time.
I’m originally from Chicago, which has a tradition of large outdoor art displays, such as the Picasso in Daley Plaza and Cloud Gate and the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park.
What follows are some examples of big whimsical public art displays.

Rubber Duck

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman has created a 54-foot high inflatable artwork called Rubber Duck. It visited Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong last month. Rubber Duck previously has toured Sydney, Osaka, Sao Paulo and other cities on its world trip. It’s set to visit the U.S. next.
See Hofman’s website as well as news coverage by Huffington Post, Laughing Squid and Yahoo.

RedBall Project

Chicago-born artist Kurt Perschke has a traveling art exhibit called the RedBall Project. He embeds a 15-foot inflatable red sphere within a city’s urban environment to dazzle and amuse residents from limited periods. (Red Ball pictured here in Grand Rapids, Mich. Photo by Daniel E. Johnson.)
Check out Perschke’s website and news coverage by Huffington Post and Damn Cool Pictures.

Red, Yellow and Blue

Brooklyn-based artist Orly Genger created “Red, Yellow and Blue,” an installation in New York City’s Madison Square Park consisting of 1.4 million feet of repurposed nautical rope and 3,000 gallons of paint. The exhibit will be on display from May 2 to Sept. 8, 2013, according to Laughing Squid.

Cloud Parking

Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya turned a rooftop parking lot in Linz, Austria, into her “Cloud Parking” exhibit in 2011. She created the fog effect with a 600 nozzle high pressure water misting system. Nakaya has been making site-specific fog installations around the world since 1970.
See articles by My Modern Met and Laughing Squid.

Skywhale

To mark the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Australian city of Canberra, the creative director of centenary celebrations commissioned Australian sculptor Patricia Piccinini to develop a hot air balloon. The Skywhale balloon was publicly unveiled in May.
See articles by Kuriositas and Wikipedia. (Photo by Joccoaa Phillips.)

Street art

I’ve written previously about street art, which can be very whimsical.
Check out the website Street Art Utopia for photos and descriptions of many notable works, including the work above by Nuxuno Xän in Fort De France, Martinique.
And then there’s the niche of 3D chalk art street painting, including the amazing work of Tracy Lee Stum. (See article by Laughing Squid.)