CALIGUIRI STATUE SCULPTOR FINALLY SEES CREATION IN PITTSBURGH FOR FIRST TIME: "YOU LEFT IT IN SUN TOO LONG," HE CRIES. "IT'S MELTING!"

ROBERT BERKS SAYS MAYOR MASLOFF DESTROYED HIS CREATION BY LEAVING IT OUTSIDE -- IT "LOOKS LIKE 'THE THING' FROM THE FANTASTIC FOUR"

PITTSBURGH - In 1990, Robert Berks sculpted the statue of Pittsburgh's late Mayor Richard Caliguiri that stands in front of Pittsburgh's City-County Building in his New York City Studio. Berks had never seen his creation in Pittsburgh until yesterday when he was in town to participate in a symposium at the Warhol. Tom Sokolowski, curator of the Warhol, drove Berks to see the statue just after rush hour.

"What have you done to it?" Berks screamed as Sokolowski's car came to a halt in front of the building. Berks explained that the statue he sculpted was a smooth, perfectly realistic likeness of the late Mayor, a work that could have passed for Caliguiri's twin. "But, this -- this craggy-looking monster . . ." Berks said the statue looks as though he "didn't care enough about it to finish it, to smooth it down." He burst into tears.

When Berks regained his composure he explained that he had instructed former Mayor Sophie Masloff that the statue needed to be brought inside during the warm weather, or else its outer coating "would melt."

That's exactly what happened. Contacted for this story, former Mayor Masloff conceded that she "forgot" to have the statue brought inside, "just like I forgot to tell anybody about that strange fungus I discovered under the desk in the mayor's office that I suspected killed Mayor Caliguiri. I sure wish I had remembered to warn Bob O'Connor about it."