Giant Pair of Lady Legs (Gone)
Sag Harbor, New York
The legs, 16 feet tall, were created by the late Larry Rivers in 1994 -- a copy of a set he'd originally made in 1969 for the local Smith Haven Mall. This pair was sold to a collector in Florida, then purchased by Ruth Vered in 2008 and erected here, next to her home, a former church. The town has been fighting to tear them down ever since.
Because Ruth -- very thoughtfully -- anchored the legs in cement, the town claimed they were a "structure," not a "sculpture," and thus in violation of zoning laws. Ruth countered that 1) without the cement the legs would be a safety hazard, 2) she's exercising her federally protected right of free speech, and 3) Larry Rivers was a famous artist.
The bickering was featured in a 2016 documentary, "Legs: A Big Issue in a Small Town," which apparently gave the legs enough credibility to survive, although in 2017 someone splashed them with red paint.
The legs were sold in 2021.
