Mayor 'OK' with Nude Public Art Project

Haddofield's new mayor, Jeff Kasko, said Wednesday he is "OK" with a statue of a nude, torso of a woman being installed Saturday as part of a downtown public-art project.

"Since art is open to personal taste and interpretation, I don't know what others will think about it or whether anyone will complain that it is inappropriate," Kasko said Wednesday. "I am OK with it."

The statue is scheduled to be dedicated Saturday morning at Mechanic and Clement streets, in the heart of historic, downtown Haddonfield.

Kasko, who was named mayor this month after being the top vote-getter in the election for the borough's Board of Commissioners, said last week he might have reservations about the statue because he hadn't seen it. Haddon Patch emailed a photo of it to him and the two other borough commissioners on Tuesday.

"Even in Haddonfield, I'm surprised that a tasteful nude would be found inappropriate," said Commissioner John Moscatelli. "So, will the only appropriate art be of dinosaurs? This project isn't like the guy with the crucifixes and urine. I don’t want to go there."

The statue is part of a public art project by the Haddonfield Outdoor Sculpture Trust, which wants to create a "walkable showcase for contemporary outdoor art."

It's a work called Uno by Miguel Antonio Horn, a Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts graduate. It resembles the famous Venus de Milo sculpture surrounded by tangled vines of bronze and steel against a backdrop resembling a parlor mantle. It is scheduled to be set in a display of tiles made by Haddonfield Memorial High School students.

HOST plans to rotate art projects throughout the town after a period of display.