This last Monday morning, a foggy overcast day here in Yountville, a large tractor trailer truck was blocking the main intersection in Town, Washington and Yount Streets. On its bed was a huge crate, over 30 feet tall, hauled from the Port of Oakland. Inside was a much anticipated delivery, the cast-bronze artwork — “Chaos Pamplona”. The journey here started in a Spanish foundry and after six weeks aboard a ship, it arrived at its final destination and was placed upon a concert platform next to the Town Community Hall.
From the Napa Register’s article by Howard Yunn, “Chaos Pamplona” joined 30 other sculptures in Yountville, but at 26 feet tall and more than 5,000 pounds, it towers over all other works of art in the Town.
The sculpture’s is the work of Jedd Novatt who is a New York City native who has lived in Paris for a decade. Novatt had flown to the Bay Area the previous day to supervise the unpacking, lowering and mounting of the sculpture he and about a dozen assistants began crafting last September.Cast in Eibar, Spain, “Chaos Pamplona” was sold for $800,000 to Mary Spencer, an out-of-county collector who then offered it to Yountville for public display, according to Town Council records.
“Chaos Pamplona” is one of a planned set of three “Chaos” sculptures. A second one was exhibited last year at London’s Chatsworth Estate.
Spencer’s gift won the council’s acceptance in December, and a team of sponsors then raised more than $58,000 to ship, truck and mount the piece.
“Chaos represents many ideas, not one in particular. Pamplona relates to my emotional connection to the (Spanish) city itself,” he said. “You’re affected a certain way by it; it’s a beautiful city with an interesting history in the Basque region.”
It took until nearly 4 P.M. to unpack and place Chaos on it final platform, but all there seemed pleased. Besides the Mayor, there were all the members of the Town Council, several from the Chamber of Commerce, most of the Town Staff and about another 20 onlookers including myself. It was quite the traffic jam for this Town but this time by the locals and not the normal throngs of visitors
I must admit, it is an impressive piece of artwork and does make one ponder exactly what it means. Who knows, as the Town has filled up with all the recent artwork added over the last two years, the Town has taken on a look of a hip, sophisticated mini art gallery. I know many of those who visit here stop and look, reading the plaques that accompany each piece. I can see four different pieces from my office and watch this happening every day. In my humble opinion, Richard Botto’s stone mushrooms next to the Post office are the leading attraction here but I am certain Chaos will give them a run for the money. Stay tuned for one of these days I am going to try to take photos of all the artwork and post them to my Flickr page.
Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at Curtis@NapaValleyAddress.com.
Your Broker Extraordinaire, selling Napa Valley Real Estate from its heart, Yountville
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