Nail's Tales

Nail's Tales is a 48-foot sculpture by Donald Lipski erected outside Camp Randall in 2005. The obelisk-shaped tower is made of concrete, steel, stone and resin. A towering pile of partially-exposed footballs is the subject of the sculpture. The $200,000 tower has been somewhat a controversial addition to the Camp Randall area and the phallic-shape has been the subject of many jokes.

For many people, tales of the glory days of football will never die. While some may view this as a sad predicament, for many of the young men who play the game it is unashamedly the best days of their lives. Memories of wins and losses, of glories and accomplishments reflect a time when players were at the top of their physical abilities. The image of modern masculinity, started by artists such as JC Leyendecker as early as the 1920′s , defined these  modern day gladiators as warriors on a field of peaceful battle. Bonds were forged here and the tales of  youthful glories provide a union and connection for years to come, turning into business ties and lasting friendships.

“Nail’s Tales” is a monumental public sculpture by Donald Lipski, a New York artist who was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in the late sixties. The sculpture is a 50 foot tall obelisk of stacked footballs, being revealed from a faux stone column made of stone, steel and fiberglass. During the era of his attendance to UW, the Badgers were somewhat of a joke, winning few games, and Lipski was a self professed loather of the game, feeling it to archaic and brutal in the time of the Vietnam war, seeing it as a close relative to the senseless battlefields.

The sculpture, erected in 2005, on the other hand, is named after Lipski’s roomate, Eric “Nails” Nathan, who remained friends with Lipski and died shortly before the project began.

The sculpture is no doubt masculine and triumphant, reminiscent of the triumphal arches and obelisks of ancient Rome and Europe. It is massive, trophy like, and no doubt phallic.

The public sculpture “Nail’s Tales” by Donald Lipski  shows a new but old way to landmark an already land-marked ground. At Madison’s Camp Randal Stadium, an obelisk stands fifty feet towering over the corner of an intersection and piercing the sky. This sculpture is perhaps the most talked about and controversial display of public art in the city, known for its phallic jokes.