UrbanizeAtlNewsBot

UrbanizeAtlNewsBot

Atlanta plans public art tributes to ‘struggles of wealthy men’ Josh Green Tue, 04/01/2025 - 08:25 BUCKHEAD—A newly formed coalition of influential Atlantans is banding together in hopes of shining a special light on a demographic they call underserved in the public arts space: wealthy male businesspeople.

Earlier this month, the Buckhead Improvement Council for Enhanced Public-realm Prestige, or BICEPP, officially launched a $23-million fundraising campaign. If successful, the drive would cover the cost of statues up to 25-feet tall, Hollywood Walk of Fame-style sidewalk enhancements, and AI-powered digital signage that would all pay homage to “Big Peach Elites.”

The installations are planned for available right-of-way, unused street corners, and portions of bike lanes throughout Atlanta, though most would rise along Peachtree Street and Peachtree Road.

BICEPP leaders this week justified the campaign—and the group’s very existence—by pointing out that Atlanta’s rich men in particular deal with complex problems and stresses not often recognized by the general public. One potential solution: an 18-foot bronze rendition of Arthur Blank and Tyler Perry hugging each other, after a long week, at the vacant northeast corner of Peachtree Road and Sylvester Drive.

Another proposal calls for a 24-foot-tall “Tuxedo Park everyman” in a “The Thinker”-style position, only wearing a bespoke Hermès suit and visibly crying.

“Do you understand how difficult it is to keep registration paperwork current on six or more vehicles at a time?” Dewey Lax, BICEPP’s interim spokesperson, told Urbanize Atlanta on Monday. “Or how expensive it is to keep a staff of, you know, smaller folks at the ready, just to ensure all those cars stay clean? During pollen season, no less.”

Proposed anatomy and dour countenance of Fabrizio Caliente’s “It’s Hard Out Here For a Mogul.” Shutterstock

According to Lax, the “north star” guiding BICEPP’s mission is to build “reasonable, permanent installations of compassion” along prominent Atlanta thoroughfares where regular citizens can’t possibly avoid them.

That new push by the coalition toward more reasonable installations means that two daring, earlier concepts have been canceled.

One of those would have been a concrete statue of Ted Turner riding a buffalo shirtless (and crying), a bottle of Evan Williams Bourbon in one hand and Xanax in the other. The other concept, a digital work, would have shown AI-generated scenes of local CEOs “on tight deadlines and saddled with outrageous alimony” nonetheless finding time to visit hospitalized children.

Approximate location of BICEPP’s proposed 24-foot-tall “Facepalm Man” installation. (Alternate title: “Falcons Fan.”) Shutterstock/Google Maps/UA

BICEPP’s efforts have proven controversial in a city notorious for income disparities, food deserts, leaky water infrastructure, and potholes occasionally requiring search parties.

Jesse Robinson, head of Citizens for Logical ATL Spending, or CLAS, recently put it bluntly: “Anyone who contributes to this campaign should be tied down and shocked with battery probes,” said Robinson. “And then spanked, fraternity-style!”

Lax countered that BICEPP’s naysayers are simply jealous and have never even attempted an 80-hour workweek at three jobs simultaneously. “They call us the 1 percent for a reason,” Lax said. “And it’s not because we can actually do math.”

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