It's funny wandering around at the Works because, with art stuck in hallways, classrooms, and trophy display cases, I'm never entirely sure whether some things in the old Washington High School are actually TBA-related art.

Take, for example, this anti-Juggalo tag outside the room housing Missouri art collective Whoop Dee Doo:

-1.jpg

Teenage Sharpie graffiti expressing distaste for Insane Clown Posse fans? Or a subtle, ironic installation from the troupe that hosts a faux public access TV show in the room next door?

Or: I got to the Works kind of late last night and the first thing I saw was this bright pink inflatable... thing. "Oh, that's some sort of crazy inflatable art piece that wouldn't fit in the building," I thought. While locking up my bike, I ran into a friend who theorized, "It's a giant pig! I hope there's someone inside cooking bacon."

I can't find a picture of the piece, but it looked like a combination of these two photos:

pink-elephant-hot-air-balloon.jpg
Picture_5.png

Instead, this morning I found out that the site-specific-conceptual-inflatable-pig art was actually just what it looked like: A deflated elephant bouncy castle. It was made by Patrick Rock. After too much bouncing from enthusiastic patrons early on, the pink elephant had developed a puncture wound and swiftly sagged.

PICA reports that Oscar the elephant is being repaired today and should be back up and open for bouncing every day during daytime gallery hours, noon to 6:30pm. Since the Works' installations are free to view during the day, that means FREE BOUNCY CASTLE through September 18th. Get a cup of coffee at Sweetpea across the street, then get bouncing!