Western Washington University is nationally recognized for it’s sculpture collection, which includes pieces such as “For Handel”, a large, industrial abstraction of a mosquito, and “Stadium Piece”, a stairwell that leads nowhere. One piece, however, has gathered it’s own form of recognition, locally and nation-wide, not for it’s contribution to the world of art, but for a common misinterpretation of it’s message.

“The Man Who Used to Hunt Cougar for Bounty”, created by Michael Beyer is a visual representation of a local legend known as “The Old Man and the Cougar. Specifically created for its current location in front of Wilson Library, is a simplistic representation of a man, a cougar, and a jug of whiskey, frozen in a moment of intimate ecstasy. Located in a high traffic area of campus, the sculpture is rarely observed for longer than a passing moment, easily misinterpreted in this short time as a sexual interaction between a man and a bear. Although this is not the message behind the piece, this misinterpretation may not be entirely unintentional. Speaking on his piece “The Big Catch”, a quasi-sexual sculpture of a man and a fish, Beyer is quoted as saying “Precisely the point; every living being is sexual, and people would lead happier, more productive lives if they got beyond that fact(Beyer 92).”

The main concept behind the piece however, speaks to the changing relationship between man, and wild. Forever finished with cougar hunting, as the legend goes, an old man instead has taken to drinking. A cougar, once the prey of the man, has grown old and tired, as the man has, from the ritual of the hunt. Together the two reconcile their past, and sit drunkenly in one another’s arms, signing ‘America’ with heads thrown back. A small jug of whiskey to the right of the man is testament to their drunkenness. This moment, captured unmoving in Beyer’s work, is a powerful statement about the relationship between man and wild; a relationship that has long been mistreated. There is a need for all of man to reconcile its past, and embrace those it has mistreated.

Once a soldier, Beyer’s message of reconciliation between hunter and hunted is not exclusive to man and wild however, but man and himself as well. A message of peace and forgiveness, and, perhaps, a humorous nod to the sexuality of man and creature, “The Man Who Used to Hunt Cougar for Bounty” is much more than a man humping a bear. As hundreds of students, teachers, and others pass by this statue every day, captured in the video above, its message remains frozen, and forever true. And yes, a little funny too.

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Video by Henry Dahlgren – Post Written by Henry Dahlgren and Megan Deane

CITED – Beyer, Margaret W. The Art People Love: Stories of Richard S. Beyer’s Life and His Sculpture. Pullman,        Wa: Washington State UP, 1999. Print.