Controversial ‘bathtub art’ project prepared for installation this summer in Petaluma

The artist behind “Fine Balance,” arguably the most controversial public art project in Petaluma history, has begun work on the sculpture in his San Francisco studio with the intention of unveiling the piece early this summer.

“I am working towards installing the sculpture sometime in June/July and am currently working on the interior steel fabrication,” Brian Goggin told the Argus-Courier this week. “There are a number of steps to complete the project so I am working on it now.”

Fine Balance, a whimsical work consisting of cast-iron bathtubs standing on tall metal stilts, originally seemed destined for Water Street downtown before being scaled down and moved. Once completed, the piece will instead be installed in the pocket park at the end of H Street near the Foundry Wharf.

A nationally recognized sculptor known for creating animated furniture that seems to come to life, Goggin began offering glimpses of himself and others digging into the Petaluma project last week. In a series of posts on his Facebook page, he was shown measuring the tubs’ height while they were suspended by straps high off the ground, cutting the metal stilts, and in other ways doing his work.

“This piece will be installed in Petaluma in a small park adjacent to the Petaluma River,” he wrote in one of the posts. “I’m working on a very tight budget and if anybody has time to volunteer to assist me, please let me know.”

Local opponents of Fine Balance have said it shouldn’t be installed here because a majority of Petaluma residents are against it, however there is no evidence to support that claim.

But for any still-skeptical art critics out there, Goggin offered a message of assurance and enthusiasm about the piece.

“The project is intended to be a joyful positive creative expression with various ways to interpret the concept,” Brian Goggin said in an email. “I was inspired by the city's relationship with San Francisco and the cast iron factories here and the cast iron buildings downtown.”

“The bathtubs with their articulated legs can be seen to relate to a universe where everything is conscious,” he said, alluding to some of his most famous works such as “Defenestration” in San Francisco, where furniture appears to have come to life and crawled out of a window.

“Balancing a heavy object in the air reminds me of watching plate spinners and how magical and impossible it looked,” he said, adding that “as we face so many challenges in the world it feels like this sense of wonder can help us see our role in supporting each other and discovering solutions together.”

Don Frances is editor of the Petaluma Argus-Courier. Reach him at don.frances@arguscourier.com.