Eye of the Beholder

“Stargazer” will head into winter with a new lease on life, thanks to a six-figure reconstruction that will keep the iconic roadside sculpture by Linda Scott a bit safer from the elements.

In the years since its installation along Route 111 in Eastport in 1991, it slowly deteriorated. Temporary repairs finally proved ineffective when the sculpture began to fall apart after Tropical Storm Isaias struck in 2020. But the late artist’s partner, David Morris, was able to rally resources — a $100,000 grant by the David Manes American Peace Prize Foundation, supplemented by a smaller award from the FLAG Art Foundation and numerous individual donations, plus in-kind contributions from crews working on it. Today, its red visage stands tall and a lot more firmly in its farm setting.

Now … what exactly is it?

The topic was the subject of intense debate on social media after last week’s article. Believers in the philosophy of intentionalism — the notion that an artist’s intention is relevant to interpreting a work of art — have a clear answer: Artist Linda Scott, who died in 2015, is documented as saying the work is meant to be, in abstract, a deer with an antler in its mouth, held aloft.

Social media, however, is loaded with anti-intentionalists. The alternate interpretation with the most support: a rooster. One commenter, when given that interpretation, replied, “I can’t unsee rooster!”

Others see something completely different. “I always thought it was a hand holding a bow and firing an arrow at the sun,” one observer offered. Another saw something similar — except it was the deer with a bow, ready to return fire on a hunter.

Most, however, see the deer pretty clearly. There is deep division, however, on what is in its mouth: Is it really an antler? Why? (The artist reportedly said it represented victory over a former version of self, the intentionalists smugly report.) Is it a branch? A cornstalk? A “blade of wheat grass”? Is its position in a cornfield a clue?

Art is about spurring conversations, and perhaps testing the limits of our understanding. “Been passing that sculpture for years,” one person said, “and never quite understood it.”

For a few decades more, it will inspire and astound — and simply mark, for many, the arrival at a special place on the planet. It shows that beauty isn’t the only thing that’s in the eye of the beholder.