Big Fish, (sculpture).

Big Fish, (sculpture).

Kumpla, Wayne, sculptor.

Big Fish, (sculpture).

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: ash lumber, painted asphalt roofing; Foundation: concrete.

Sculpture: approx. H. 16 ft. x W. 14 ft. x L. 65 ft.; Foundation: approx. W. 14 ft. x L. 65 ft.

(Sign on door, within mouth of fish:) Please/Do Not/Damage/Teeth/Thank you/Donations/Appreciated/for/Preservation/Thank you/(arrow sign pointing downward) unsigned

A building in the form of a fish, formerly used as a drive-in and hamburger stand. The structure is wooden (ash), covered with painted tarpaper. The fish's mouth is open wide, lined with wooden teeth, with the entrance door within the mouth. The rectangular opening on the side of the fish was once used as a window. Short barricades buffer the fish on the parking lot side.

Outdoor Sculpture -- Minnesota -- Bena

Architectural component

Big Fish Supper Club, Highway 2, Box 83, Bena, Minnesota 56626

The fish is now used only for storage. The teeth of the fish were originally fiberglass, but were replaced with wood teeth which are removed in the winter. Tourists often take the teeth as souvenirs.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Minnesota survey, 1994.

Marling, Karal Ann, "The Colossus of Roads: Myth & Symbol Along the American Highway," University of Minnesota, 1984, pg. 133.

"Minnesota Gothic, Poems by Mark Vinz," Milkweed Editions, 1992, pg. 47.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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