FIRST OFF . . .

Artist Mowry Baden, whose outdoor sculpture, “Wild Celery for Stephen Davis,� was demolished last year to make way for a UC Irvine housing development, has filed a $2.75-million suit claiming the artwork’s destruction damaged his reputation and caused him emotional distress. The former artist-in-residence built the sculpture nine years ago on a then-vacant section of UC Irvine’s south campus. The sculpture was made of four steel beams embedded into a now-destroyed ravine. The beams were built as ramps, and passers-by experienced the sculpture by walking on it, Baden said in an interview. The work was named for a New York artist who had inspired him, he added. University spokeswoman Linda Granell said she’d never heard of the sculpture and declined to comment. He is now teaching visual arts at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.