Client: Rick Caruso and The Grove

Location: Los Angeles, CA, United States

Completion date: 2017

Artwork budget: $175,000

Project Team

Artist

Michael Kalish

Client

Rick Caruso

The Grove

Overview

Cliché as it sounds, in a world where nothing seems to make sense anymore, love still does. Of course love can be so many different things to different people. As an artist, it was capturing that unexpected moment when love is first revealed that got my own heart beating fast. But the more I thought about it, the more I had to ask myself: aren’t we all artists when it comes to creating, finding and nurturing love? That curiosity has now taken shape in the form of a 20 x 6 x 6-foot interactive metal sculpture.

Goals

Visitors will literally be given the opportunity to “find love” by walking around the sculpture until they find the one spot where the letters come together. They’ll also be encouraged to contribute their dedications, discoveries, personal stories and thoughts on love via notes to deposit into the sculpture itself, with the goal of accumulating 2 Million stories of love. In addition to sharing stories online and via social media using the hashtag #theartoffindinglove. At the core of the mission: the belief that sharing our stories, ideas and aspirations about love works to spread love itself.

Process

The sculpture began as an idea, a movement and concept that became collaborative. A 2D sketch was interpreted by an industrial design team to enable the 20' piece to be functional and interactive. Fabricators then worked with the design team and my fabrication team to create the series of outdoor sculptures.