Like the slimy mushrooms a few feet away from its base, it sprouted up seemingly overnight; two concrete crescents rising from the ground, arcing away from one another before one stops, leaving the one to loom a foot over the other. They do not touch. 

Located in the grassy median between H and G streets in Arcata near Sunset Avenue, the sculpture is the product of Eureka-based artist John King. It was funded by the city through Playhouse Arts as part of the city’s Call for Artists, which funded $60,000 of public arts around Arcata. 

King conceived the piece as a gateway or a “portal,” inspired by wildlife corridors over highways. Situated right at the tip of Northtown Arcata, it was a prescient choice. It sat in his yard for four months before he installed it on Nov. 9, and while it idled it got some use from his dogs — and a black bear that snuck into his yard and ambled through it. (Perhaps he was drawn to the etchings of whales and little amphibians that found homes amidst the tiles that adorn the sculpture.)

King has done a few similar concrete pieces like this one since 1994 (check out his pleasantly janky website for more). Before learning how to shape and mold concrete while working in construction, he sculpted with huge redwood slabs that had to stay indoors lest moisture ruin the wood. 

Anyone that sees a connection between the mysteriously-risen sculpture and the civilization-creating monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey isn’t far off. King told the Outpost that watching the film decades ago had given him an interest in monoliths.

He’s bullish about the potential positives of his sculpture; maybe people will see it and think about animals affected by encroaching human activities like building roads or hunting, he said. Aging has made him think more about humanity’s relationship with the natural world, though even at the age of 72 he said he still thinks and feels like a teenager.

“I’m hoping people walk through it,” King said. “It could change your life. You never know… Maybe I can go through the portal into the future. Somebody was suggesting that, and I go, ‘No, I’ve walked through it a bunch of times. I’m still the same. I’m still wrinkly.’”

“Art is what you make it,” King said. “Everybody sees their own stuff, and you’ve got your own idea. It’s free interpretation for anybody to figure whatever they want out of it. I’m on board with what everybody thinks they see. It doesn’t have to be a portal. Maybe it looks like crap.”