Artist’s face of America on National Mall will be a passing fancy

The National Mall is getting a new look – temporarily.

On a 6-acre tract near the World War II Memorial, alongside the Reflecting Pool, there is a public art project that at ground level appears to be swirls of alternating lines of dirt and sand with a few patches of gravel.

But from above – say, from the top of the Washington Monument – visitors can see that it is actually the face of a young man.

“It’s a unique project for us in the National Park Service,” Robert Vogel, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, said at Wednesday’s media unveiling of the project. “This is iconic public space, so I thought, ‘What better place to have public art?' “

The audacious project is the brainchild of Kim Sajet, the new director of the National Portrait Gallery, a part of the Smithsonian Institution, which has many museums that line the National Mall.

Sajet came up with the idea earlier this year and asked the Park Service for permission. “When they said yes, we said, ‘Really?’’' she told reporters. “It was something kind of fun for the country.”

The artwork, which will be open to the public from Saturday until Oct. 31, adds a new element to the Mall, the stretch of green space, museums and memorials from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol, known as “the nation’s front lawn.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2014 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Artist’s face of America on National Mall will be a passing fancy."