Portlandia
They have the same name, but no, I’m not talking about the TV series that satirizes (sort of) life in Portland. This Portlandia is a giantess made out of hammered copper, crouching incongruously atop the entrance to the Portland Building, clutching a trident in one hand and reaching toward the street with the other—supposedly welcoming people to the hideous building, or maybe trying to flick them away with her finger. The only hammered-copper giantess larger than Portlandia is the Statue of Liberty. Because of the weird way she is positioned, most people don’t even notice Portlandia. Maybe they are averting their eyes from Michael Graves’s Portland Building, the first postmodern structure in the United States, and hated by just about everyone because of its dark interiors and graceless exterior. Classically garbed and emotionless, Portlandia went up when the building did, in 1985. She was created by Raymond Kaskey, and yes, she does have a cameo in the opening credits of Portlandia, the TV show.
They have the same name, but no, I’m not talking about the TV series that satirizes (sort of) life in Portland. This Portlandia is a giantess made out of hammered copper, crouching incongruously atop the entrance to the Portland Building, clutching a trident in one hand and reaching toward the street with the other—supposedly welcoming people to the hideous building, or maybe trying to flick them away with her finger. The only hammered-copper giantess larger than Portlandia is the Statue of Liberty. Because of the weird way she is positioned, most people don’t even notice Portlandia. Maybe they are averting their eyes from Michael Graves’s Portland Building, the first postmodern structure in the United States, and hated by just about everyone because of its dark interiors and graceless exterior. Classically garbed and emotionless, Portlandia went up when the building did, in 1985. She was created by Raymond Kaskey, and yes, she does have a cameo in the opening credits of Portlandia, the TV show.
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