HOUSTON — What could become one of Houston's newest icons was installed Tuesday.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is adding to its collection a one-of-a-kind piece that mirrors the iconic "bean" sculpture in Chicago. That’s because the two pieces were made by the same artist.
At 32-feet tall, it’s 21,000 pounds of pure, polished perfection -- a rare piece of art designed to mirror the world around it.
“It’s a great sculpture, totally unique. It’s the only one you’re ever going to see, and it’s in Houston," said Mtec Project Manager David Williams.
A sibling to Chicago's "Cloud Gate," Houston’s newest sculpture, "Cloud Column," was hammered together by hands of the same artist, Anish Kapoor.
“This is an earlier work, one of his first works when he was exploring the way to do this," said Dale Benson with Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "It was hand-formed and hammered and bent, and then welded together into the shape that you see.”
The shiny steel column has a few character differences from the other. The most obvious is it stands upright, but also, it has a concave center that reflects a topsy-turvy take of its surroundings.
“On the outside, it’s reflecting the world around you, and then it’s got a concave shape which is showing another aspect of the world, upside down," Benson said.
Hand-crafted in London, getting the Houston "bean" across the Atlantic pond was no easy task.
“They began fabricating this thing in 1999, and because of the process, it took many many years for it to kind of come to fruition," Benson said.
Installation crews traveled with the sculpture and began installing the cage Monday.
“It couldn’t have gone more smooth," Benson said.
By Tuesday, they were polishing on the final touches, ensuring the piece was delivered even more brilliant than before.
“It’s a fantastic thing for Houston, and we’re really stoked that it’s come here," Williams said.
The sculpture is part of the Museum of Fine Arts Glassell School of Art, which is currently under construction. Because of that, the new sculpture won’t be accessible to the public until its official opening on May 20.
Not everyone is happy about it, it seems. At the Chicago Tribune one reporter published the story "Unoriginal 4th place Houston gets its own bean sculpture... whatever."