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CHICAGO, May 15, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A 110-ton sculpture, popularly called "The Bean," was formally dedicated Monday in Chicago's $500 million Millennium Park to the strains of a jazz composition.
"Fanfare for Cloud Gate," was written by jazz trumpeter Orbert Davis and performed with the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic brass section, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Maggie Daley, wife of Mayor Richard M. Daley, proclaimed it Cloud Gate Day in honor of the artwork
The sculpture's final $23 million price tag ballooned as big as its 42-foot-wide, 33-foot-high size, but the work by Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor has drawn critical praise as one of the premier pieces of public art in the United States, and has been compared to the city's famous Picasso sculpture downtown.
The 66-foot-long stainless steel sculpture that resembles a giant silver jellybean came in about $17 million over its original $6 million budget. The final job of finely sanding, buffing and polishing the work to remove all visible seams between 168 steel plates added millions to its cost.
The sculpture can be touched since workers wipe fingerprints off the reflective surface three times a day.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
