Stella’s 2008 Awards for Best & Worst Sculpture

Best: Milwaukee has hunks of stuff that pass for “art,” but the east lobby of the historic Shorecrest Hotel shelters a bronze worth considering. “Fisherboy Dancing the Tarantella” (Francisque Joseph Duret) is allegedly the only true copy of the original 1832 beauty enshrined in the Louvre. With his six-pack abs, earrings and elegant torso defining a dance derived from the bite of the tarantula, the smiling chap is (perhaps) considering what art isn’t.

Worst: The year was 1989. The National Association of Letter Carriers dedicated a memorial to those who carry forth through rain, sleet and snow. Installed on a small plot at Plankington & Wells, convenient to those out dodging traffic while dog walking, once per year someone stops by to clean the motley trio of figures. No one seems to know who gave us this miserable three, but the budget must have been miniscule. The result is a clutch of pint-sized carriers intent on dashing off in different directions.