As public officials attacked his public sculpture because it was rusting, Artist Bradley Arthur suggests that the rust is part of the pieces’ status as living art, a common theme in works subjected to the elements. He’s a gregarious sort who loves discussing meaning and subtext and symbolism. He’s given to making lofty statements that can sound pretentious to people less aesthetically minded. At the Ybor City sculpture, he kneels to rub off a reddish smudge. ‘It’s like the piece is crying,’ he says wistfully.”