Providence, Rhode Island

'Untitled (Lamp/Bear)'

This blue behemoth of a bear is a colorful homage to Brown University's mascot.

This strange bear slumps in the corner of a university quad. There’s nothing cuddly about the oversized creature, or the abnormally large lamp slicing into its head.

“Untitled (Lamp/Bear)” by Swiss artist Urs Fischer is a unique addition to Brown University’s campus. It certainly keeps with the school’s reputation as the most free-spirited member of the Ivy League.

The jumbo-sized cast bronze sculpture of a teddy bear eerily bisected by a lamp is on loan to the University from Steven and Alexandra Cohen. It’s one of many sculptural representations of bears across the campus that honor Brown’s mascot, a brown bear. Visitors should be sure to check the office windows nearest to the installation where one clever Brunonian had created a miniature (or should one say normal-sized?) Lamp/Bear of their own.

If you aren’t going to Providence, Rhode Island, anytime soon, don’t despair. There are other Lamp/Bear siblings out in the world. A second version of the sculpture is currently sitting in Qatar’s Hamad International Airport’s duty-free hall. A third one exists as well, but it’s on private property and is unviewable to the public.