Client: Codina & Partners

Overview

Public art addresses urban visual needs and aesthetics. It functions as a triumphant element inscribed into the urban landscape or hardscape where it is installed. It must be harmoniously intertwined to create a significant landmark defining the contours of the city, celebrating its spaces, and inviting visitors to meander at ease. We create public art to elevate public places from the mundane to the sublime. A typical case in point is the Tricorn at the James Monroe Memorial Park. Here, the objective was to create a sculpture placed in the middle of a basin to serve as a water feature during warmer seasons and as a monolith during winter. At the same time, the sculpture had to be a focal point during the day, reflecting sunlight, and during the night becoming an illuminated beacon. At this memorial site we created a landmark connected to the urban tissue of Washington, DC.

Goals

I aspire to create sculptures that are knitted into the city with attractive optical qualities that catch the eye. I studied in Caracas with professors who practiced Kinetic Art and, during my time in Paris, I had the opportunity to pursue optical effects which became pivotal elements in my work over three decades. I like to explore the magic of transparency, translucency, opacity, the moiré effect, mirrors, and shadows. With Tricorn, I achieved the illusion of a perpetually melting block of ice sparking curiosity and disbelief in passersby. For Murrow Park I used Murrow’s voice to create a virtual eternal flame with the vibration of his recordings. In Flowers for Mr. Cole (Trinidad - Washington, DC), aluminum harnesses and oval shields crown public lighting lanterns. The sun’s rays cast moving, colored shadows in the pavement. In my last sculpture in Miami, I used mirror-polished stainless steel to reflect the surroundings and engage pedestrians.

Process

Recently I answered analogous questions for the Downtown Doral Beacon in Miami; there I transformed a corporate logo into a tridimensional sculpture that serves as a landmark for the area. I found a solution and my project prevailed.