”The Leaper” can be seen in downtown Orlando 365 days a year. The sculpture, located in front of the Orange County Commissioner’s office, depicts a muscled, human-like figure crouched down with outstretched arms hodling a makeshift wing. Although the pedastal that the sculpture sits on is only a few feet tall, the figure’s appearance is that of one standing on top of the tallest building, with its “eyes” staring straight down.

In reality, “The Leaper” has nothing to do with leaping off of anything. Being located in front of a government building, where policies, laws and regulations are being made to contain and control various aspects of life, the sculpture symbolizes that “beyond containment there’s the expansion of the mind that needs to happen - the taking a leap of faith” (according to Terry Olson, Director, Arts and Cultural Affairs). Regardless of the acutal or inferred meaning of the sculpture, it’s a very nice piece of public art.

Being a leap year, there’s a whole extra day to enjoy things like “The Leaper”. One man, Brian Feldman, is using these extra 24 hours to do some leaping of his own. In fact, he’s going to leap off of a 12-foot column in front of City Hall once every 4 minutes or so - 366 times in total. It’s an event that’s drawn coverage from nearly every media outlet in the area.

For full information on what Brian is doing, head on over to his website, BrianFeldman.com. You can also watch the press conference he held last week on OrlandoScene.tv (listen for the quote about “The Leaper” by Terry Olson).

I’ll take some time out of my day on Friday around lunch to take pictures and see what kind of crowd he is able to draw. I’m not sure if this is the next David Blaine-like stunt to draw national attention, but it should get the attention of a few of us here in the big city of Orlando.

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