The large sculpture called Typewriter Eraser, Scale X* resides near an entrance to the grounds of the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. It is fun to pause there just to overhear reactions from visitors who are seeing it for the first time.
"What is that?"
"I've never seen anything like that before!"
Children stand there looking confused, asking questions. Typically, adults laugh and say something like, "I'm old enough to know the answer," and then they go down a mental alley first saying it's an eraser for a typewriter, then explaining what a typewriter is, and then why a typewriter would need an eraser.
For some reason, I find these exchanges funny and engaging and that's why I pause at the sculpture, especially when I see a group approaching.
When I first saw this sculpture many years ago I wondered why an artist would use an eraser as a model for a sculpture in the first place. It seemed so mundane, if not strange. But who knew that years later so many people would quickly get engaged in the sculpture and in so many different ways. Self included.
*Sculpted by Oldenburg & Bruggen (1999)