66324 Yerba Buena Road – The Westernmost peak of Yerba Buena Island
Point of Infinity by Hiroshi Sugimoto
The sculpture’s full title is “Point of Infinity: Surface of Revolution with Constant Negative Curvature.” It evokes the “Tower of the Sun” sculpture of the 1939 fair, sits at the top of Yerba Buena Island, and has rather spectacular views of San Francisco and the East Bay.
The artist explains:
“The form of the sculpture is created from two converging hyperbolic curves that get closer and closer but never meet. In the material world, it is physically impossible to make a point that reaches all the way to infinity. What I can do, however, is suggest infinity by making an approximate point that can exist in the material world as a mathematically modeled structure with a 21-millimeter-wide tip.”
Starting at a width of 23 feet at the base, the sculpture rises to a height of 69 feet and tapers to a diameter of 7/8 inch ). Eight glass fiber reinforced concrete panels compose the base of the sculpture to a height of 18 ½ feet, and then seamlessly transition to mirror-polished marine grade 316 stainless steel that rises another 50 ½ feet.
Hiroshi Sugimoto is best known for his photographic work. Born on February 23, 1948, in Tokyo, Japan, he graduated with a degree in sociology and politics from Rikkyo University in 1970. The artist went on to receive his BFA in photography from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles before moving to New York in the mid-1970s.
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