Picasso Lawn Gnome Takes Over Columbia Waterfront District Lot

BROOKLYN, NY — A giant lawn gnome of the famed artist Pablo Picasso has taken over an empty l0t in the Columbia Waterfront District.

The 10-foot-tall statue, dubbed "The Spanish Gardener," was created by artist Elliott Arkin and depicts the cubist painter as laborer mowing a lawn.

"I used to say that if Picasso was around today he would have to mow lawns for a living," Arkin told artnet. "The art world has changed that much."

The piece was installed last week on a plot of land along the Brooklyn Greenway on the corner of Columbia and Degraw streets and will remain up until July 15, according to the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.

In a press release about the piece, the group described the statue as a "visual poem" that compares artists to "caretakers, planting ideas and doing the work that shapes our space and world.

"It also playfully juxtaposes the artist/patron/viewer relationship and is a satire on the on the art world with political, environmental, and social commentary," the Greenway wrote.

"Typical with many of Arkin’s works, The Spanish Gardener mixes and matches references to artists and artworks creating a quizzical journey with many paths and interpretations and is open to be engaged on many levels."

"The Spanish Gardener" continues a series of statues by Arkin rendering historical figures as lawn gnomes and is the largest one he's created yet, the group said.

Image: Nicholas Rizzi/Patch