HOUSTON – Houston, we have a bean.
You might be aware of the "bean sculpture" called Cloud Gate that is displayed in downtown Chicago, the third-largest city in the country. The sculpture was designed by Anish Kapoor.
Kapoor's work is now coming to Houston, the fourth-largest city in the country that is expected to overtake the Windy City for the third spot in the near future.
Cloud Column was installed over two days on the plaza of the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
PHOTOS: Cloud Column installed at MFAH
Installation process of Anish Kapoor, Cloud Column (2006), March 26, 2018. Photography by Will Michels.
"I have admired Anish Kapoor's work for more than 20 years. When we had the opportunity several years ago to acquire this precursor to Chicago's Cloud Gate, I could only imagine that it would be as extraordinary for this city as Anish's work has been for Chicago. Its elegant form and the subtle humanity of its hand-worked surface will fully animate this new gathering place for Houston," MFAH Director Gary Tinterow said in a news release.
Cloud Column was conceived in the late 1990s and came to realization 16 years later.
According to MFAH, "the oblong form's concave 'front' faces the Glassell School of Art, inverting the structure, its surroundings and the viewer in its reflection."
The sculpture, all 21,000 pounds of it, was hoisted by crane and bolted in place Monday morning. The stainless steel surface was then buffed to a sheen Tuesday by a member of Kapoor's London installation team.
A second sculpture, Eduardo Chillida's Song of Strength from 1966, will be installed on the plaza opposite the Cloud Column in mid-April.
The Glassell School of Art and Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza will open to the public on May 20.
The entire campus is expected to be completed in early 2020.