Client

Location: Los Angeles, CA, United States

Completion date: 2011

Artwork budget: $1,200,000

Project Team

Artist

Michael Kalish

Kalish Studios

Architect

Oyler Wu Collaborative

Oyler Wu Collaborative

Overview

The installation, titled “reALIze,” stands 26 feet wide, 23 feet high (at its highest point) and 25 feet deep. The completed project features a metal frame structure, five miles of stainless steel cables and about 1300 speed bags.

Goals

The idea for the sculpture was born from a correspondence with Ali's wife, Yolanda, who had expressed her admiration for the artist's past work that used license plates as a sculptural medium. Michael created a piece for the Ali family, and their relationship eventually led to the new art installation.

Process

The work is based on an image of Ali taken by British photographer Michael Brennan during the late 1970s at Deer Lake, Penn. To design the work, the artist teamed up with the L.A. architecture firm Oyler Wu Collaborative, which assisted in the modeling of the installation. The project took three to four months of design time and then an additional five months of construction that took place in Gardena.