Harry Bridges Plaza Until October 15, 2015
The Consulate of Mexico and Rivelino are touring Nuestros Silencios (Our Silences) sculptures, to deliver a message about freedom of expression. Each sculpture has a metal plate covering its mouth as an allusion to censorship.
The artist hopes the installation will prompt reflection about the importance of speaking out. This installation toured Europe (Russia, Germany, London, Rome and Portugal) in 2009-2011. The most recent installation was in Ruocco Park at the Port of San Diego in January 2015.
“Our Silences” is made up of 10 monumental anthropomorphic sculptures, in white and ochre cast bronze weighing almost one ton each. The busts have both haut-and bas-reliefs, seeds, plants, and artists interpretation of collective expression.
The 11th piece of the installation is a cubic sculpture referred to as “Tactile Box” made of iron that explains the installation. It contains four small format pieces based upon the human figures that can be touched and were created specifically for persons with visual disabilities. (however, at the time of my visit, these pieces were missing)
Rivelino, 41, whose full name is José Rivelino Moreno Valle, is from Mexico City. He is described by the World Economic Forum as an autodidact sculptor based in Mexico City, interested in the relationship between the spectator and an artistic object in a specific social and historical context. Inspired by passion for architecture, engineering, psychology, sociology, archaeology and history. Rivilino experiments constantly with diverse materials, such as cotton, clay, steel and bronze, to correlate the unique relationship between them.