“Buttoned Up” Sculptures by Augusto Esquivel

Airports are depressing by design, but on top of this, they are shopping wastelands  Think about it, where else is there such a captive audience and yet all that occupies the real estate are  fast food establishments and shops with names like the “Spirit of the Red Horse”?.  Are you kidding me?   Offering some relief, many municipalities have tried to inject a bit of public art into the mix.  One of my favorites is in the Chicago Midway Airport.   If you’ve been there, you have no doubt seen a hanging sculpture of a bird constructed entirely of miniature toy bombs and airplanes by Ralph Helmick.  In the same vein, Miami artist Augusto Esquivel fastens together these amazing sculptures made entirely of buttons.