Cleveland’s Free Stamp sculpture lived up to its mission of providing public art with purpose in 2025. Anchoring Willard Park next to City Hall, the 48-foot maroon steel landmark was the rallying point for numerous events, especially demonstrations against the government.
But the sculpture has been taking a beating from our weather and from visitors. It looks worn and tired, its paint is fading, chipping and peeling, and it bears scars of engraved graffiti. So it might be time someone starts thinking about giving it another paint job. It received its last makeover in 2014 at a cost of nearly $100,000. But today a mystery surrounds who is obligated to pay for the next one.
The Free Stamp was designed by world famous artists Claes Oldenburg and his wife, Coosje van Bruggen, who were known for their giant whimsical sculptures of everyday objects. Sohio, which today is BP America, commissioned the project in the early 1980s for its building on Public Square, the building that today bears the name of Huntington National Bank.
Free Stamp was rejected by corporation that commissioned it
First designed to stand upright, the sculpture was ultimately rejected by oil company executives as not befitting the company culture. They later donated it to the City of Cleveland, which worked with the artists to redesign the sculpture for Willard Park, where it sits on its side, letters facing up, as if it was tossed from Public Square. (So the legend goes.)…