As the City Turns

It seems like Sarasota is becoming more urban in subtle as well as not so subtle ways.

Consider the choice of sculpture that graces our focal point downtown park. We recently removed the joyful sculpture of children playing (Olympic Wannabes by Glenna Goodacre) and replaced it (maybe temporarily?) with a much more contemplative and less approachable piece by Manuel Carbonell called "Torso 2001."

Carbonell says “In my search for the essence of the form and the absence of details, I struggle to give a feeling of strength, monumentality and simplicity to my work.”


Many Sarasotans are struggling with our sense of place as downtown is transformed into towering buildings with diminished open space and loss of greenery. Monumentality describes this change, simplicity does not. We yearn for the essence of place and those details that give us the texture that describe Sarasota.