Visitors to downtown St. Louis can say hello to Pinnochio again.
Jim Dine’s sculpture “Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels,” which depicts the beloved character standing atop a bronze cart with arms outstretched, has been in storage for months while workers completed a major addition to Citygarden, its home.
Portions of the sculpture garden, a St. Louis landmark since its 2009 opening, have been closed to the public since early September. A kickoff event starting Saturday morning marks its reopening, the debut of three new sculptures and the return of Dine’s piece, plus another work that proved popular during a temporary installation in 2019.
“With the fencing down it means that everyone can now experience the entirety of the park again, but in particular we want people to welcome these three new pieces. I’m quite excited for people to get to experience that artistry as well as the artistry of Citygarden itself,” Gateway Foundation Executive Director Heather Sweeney said.
The Gateway Foundation funds Citygarden, which sits on city-owned land. Sweeney declined to say how much money the organization spent on the expansion. Virginia-based Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects designed Citypark. Michelle Ohle of the St. Louis firm DTLS Landscape Architecture assisted with the renovation and expansion.
The extension connects the two halves of the sprawling sculpture garden, which had been bisected by Ninth Street. Although that portion of the street has long been closed to traffic, it created an awkward disruption to a space that otherwise offers visitors a well-vegetated respite from city streets.
“Now it’s fully integrated as part of the park, so it’s a really safe pedestrian experience going across. It also allowed us to put in three brand-new pieces and bring two pieces back to the park,” Ohle said.
The new sculptures are “White Ghost” by Yoshitomore Nara, a towering statue made of glossy white fiberglass of an uncanny figure that appears to have a combination of human and canine features; “Mechanical Planet” by Jan Kaláb, made of several colorful spheres stacked into a distinctive shape, and “All Power to All People” by Hank Willis Thomas, an 8-foot-tall Afro pick made of shiny, reflective aluminum with a fist atop its handle.
“MOONRISE.east.may” by Ugo Rondinone, a playful bust of a friendly-looking but mishappen head, has returned permanently to Citygarden after proving a popular attraction for children when it was added temporarily as part of the site’s 10th anniversary in 2019.
Other additions to the park include another serpentine bench and enhanced lighting.
The kickoff event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and will feature food trucks and a DJ. The first 2,500 visitors will receive giveaways designed for the occasion, many by St. Louis-based artists Shannon Levin, Karina Tiller, Anna Karpinski, David Rygiol and Marco Cheatham.
