In 1974 I was commissioned to create two bronze sculptures for the Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines, Iowa. The first depicted a larger than life winged man riding a tricycle. A generation of Des Moinites (Des Monians?) who grew up with this admittedly bizarre monument came to embrace it as an icon of their city. It mysteriously disappeared from the mall after 25 years, and resurfaced in someone's yard nearby years later. The story of "Whatever Happened to the Naked Trike Angel?" became an urban legend has been documented in newspaper, magazine and blogs, and was even memorialized on a t-shirt. The second sculpture, "Time Eclipse" also featured a male nude but stirred no controversy - doubtless due to the fact that it was much smaller and less accessible as the center piece of a fountain placed safely out of reach to children set atop a pedestal of stainless steel and stained glass and surrounded by a pool of water and a guard rail.
