Towering sculpture may be on its way to Parkway site

Penny Balkin Bach, director of the Fairmount Park Art Association, said the work was acquired by an anonymous donor and given to the association, which will own and maintain it.

"Every now and then an unusual opportunity comes our way, and this is one of them," Bach told the park commissioners at their regular monthly meeting. "We feel this sculpture promises to be the next local landmark in Philadelphia. . . . It's the most important contemporary sculpture to come to Philadelphia since Claes Oldenberg's Clothespin in 1976."

Iroquois is composed of painted "automotive-grade" steel painted "GM red," Bach said.

Di Suvero began the piece in 1983 and fiddled with it as recently as 1999; it will be his first public sculpture installed outdoors in the city, although the Art Museum owns one di Suvero piece.

Should the Art Commission approve installation, the artist, with crew and giant crane, will descend on the Ben Franklin Parkway and direct the whole operation - a process reminiscent of manipulating a huge Erector Set - sometime in May.

Contact culture writer Stephan Salisbury at 215-854-5594 or ssalisbury@phillynews.com.