For drivers going past the Burdick Street side of Mount Ever-Rest Memorial Park in Kalamazoo, it can be hard to miss. A large rough, pear-shaped object sits on a pile of rocks.
“I've always seen it from the road from Burdick as I drive by and it's about the size of a Volkswagen van and from afar it looks like a lump of copper with greenish outside and copper-colored inside," question-asker Chris Seck told WMUK.
He had assumed it was connected to the cemetery, but its actual owner just happens to live close by.
Artist Gurmej Singh is the owner and maker of the object.
Gurmej goes by the name Artist SinGh. Chris and I met him at his home, and quickly headed for what Chris and I thought was the giant rock in his backyard.
SinGh even let us touch it, but we were surprised that it wasn’t the rough skin of a boulder we felt, but rather Styrofoam.
“So, there are two different kinds of Styrofoam. One is hard and one is on the softer end," he said.
Up close, you can see it’s falling apart. The object’s light green outer layer has partially worn away, exposing its black and muddy-yellow foam innards. A tube sticks out of the top, a remnant of its original use.
“So, first project-- it was international peace bomb. So, bombs are usually not peaceful. But the idea was we need to make bombs that are peaceful.”
SinGh stood on this cartoon-esque bomb as it was suspended from a crane in downtown Grand Rapids, the tube smoking as if its fuse were lit. A photo can be found in this story from MLive.
That was over ten years ago, and since then, it has been repurposed.
“It was designed to be to be a pear because I have a world record. Guinness World Record for world's longest painting," he said.
SinGh turned his bomb into a giant pear for the longest painting in the world.
He made this painting in 2013 and planned for it to come out of a hole near the top of the pear.
This plan was eventually scrapped, but the painting itself ended up causing enough of a stir, after it got him banned for life from the Grand Rapids ArtPrize.
Here’s SinGh’s version of the story.
“I told them, 'If in case the Guinness did not respond in couple days, then I'm going to bring 45-foot-long painting and we won't be doing the world's longest painting.’”
Though this back-up painting would’ve been long, it wouldn’t have been record-breaking.
“They said, 'Okay, however you wish.’”
Guinness did respond, ready to see SinGh’s over two-mile-long painting. But then, according to SinGh, ArtPrize had a change of heart.
“They said, ‘No, you can't put a world's longest painting because it's kind of overshadow the other artists. And my thing was; it's a competition, you shouldn't stop a person because you already promised.”
SinGh decided to move ahead, showing off his painting a few days before ArtPrize.
“I did display the painting with city's permission and the police permission but did not involve the ArtPrize. I think they banned me for that.”
However, ArtPrize had a different version of events.
In 2014, a spokesperson said SinGh installed his lengthy painting without the city’s permission. The painting ran across roads, sidewalks, and private property.
The Grand Rapids police allowed the painting to be measured, and it was confirmed as the longest painting by Guinness. But ArtPrize said the city had to remove the painting after SinGh did not do so. The organization declined further comment for this story.
According to Guinness’ website, SinGh no longer holds the record. It was broken in September 2020 by a painting that stretched for over 3 miles.
There are plenty of other things besides the peace bomb pear that stand out on SinGh’s property. A treehouse connects to his porch and a wooden sculpture sits on his lawn, looking like the world’s most chaotic game of Jenga.
Question-asker Chris Seck said he admired SinGh's work.
“I understand why I've been so attracted to this property because it embodies that you live your life for art to embody being alive for art and in support of peace and those are all things that I feel kindred with.”
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
