Giant Blue Baby Thrusts Public Art Into the Spotlight in Dallas

With the Dallas mayoral election around the corner, perhaps one candidate’s platform should be more art in public spaces around our city. I would love it if when taking a walk through town, I might be surprised by a work of art as I turned the corner.

Dallas could benefit from having a higher walkability score. And who doesn’t want more selfie opportunities to keep your social media fresh?

Here’s a chance to freshen up your feed with some worthy, and worldly, public artwork. In March, Babyfoot, a 13-foot-long and 8-foot-tall strikingly blue resin sculpture is coming to Dallas Design District‘s Oak Lawn entrance.

The massive, cerulean infant with oversized feet is the child of French-Israeli sculptor Idan Zareski.

Arms crossed, the blue bundle of joy seems perplexed by his gargantuan toes. But in essence, they are symbolic of the shared path that we all must walk, our inherent common ground.

Zareski is a student of the world. He never attended art school or took formal training in anatomy. In fact, he rarely sketches his creations in advance but rather lets his hands express themselves freely.

A full 90 percent of Zareski’s creations are shaped in under an hour. It’s possible a passerby could spend as much time contemplating the piece as the artist spent crafting it.

The Babyfoot headed to Dallas in a few weeks is not the only one of its kind. It’s one of a series — there’s a colorful eight in total. On Zareski’s site, you can explore the many bright iterations of the youngster. There’s a whole family of sorts, with the original Bigfoot sculpture something of a father figure to the frowny-faced blue babe, plus Ladyfoot, MiniFoot, Grandpa Foot and more.

These expressive sculptures are well-traveled. Bigfoot has toured the globe, from Monaco to Costa Rica, from Switzerland to France.

And now, Dallas. The city’s Design District, the host of this delightful art piece, is an eclectic-meets-upscale collection of art galleries, interior design showrooms, top restaurants and luxury apartments.

The baby may feel — and be — blue, but he’s certain to brighten many a Dallas stroller’s day.