A COMMANDING PRESENCE in the heart of Broad Ripple, the 32-foot-high sculpture Gavin–Divergence by Hoosier Jason Myers weighs 2 tons. Crafted of recycled steel, it’s emblazoned with LED lights. At night, the colors shift from white to neon hues like green and purple and back, lending it a spectral aura. Head bowed and taking a step forward, the skeletal figure vibes sober yet determined. The work is part of the artist’s Gavin Project, a series of similar sculptures inspired by Sisyphus, a figure from Greek mythology who was doomed to push a boulder up a hill for eternity. Myers sees the tale as an allegory for the human condition. Local opinion was decidedly mixed when the sculpture was installed where College Avenue and Westfield Boulevard meet in November. Fans praise it as an edgy symbol of Broad Ripple’s creative energy, a benevolent guardian, if you will. Critics have other descriptors: Slender Man or just plain creepy. Aside from whether one looks at it as hip or hideous, it’s hard not to look at it, raising concerns that it may distract drivers at the busy intersection flanked by The Vogue and a CVS. Gavin–Divergence, then, is already making its mark not only as a piece of striking artwork but also as a community conversation starter. The installation was funded by a private-public partnership between the Broad Ripple Village Association, the Indy Art Center, the Penrod Society, and Tag Birge of the Birge Family Foundation. Birge, who spearheaded the project, frames it as a part of his larger effort to bolster the area’s underfunded and languishing art infrastructure.
