San Francisco – Public v Private Art

 Posted by on April 7, 2011
Apr 072011
 

555 Mission Street
SOMA

Public versus private art.  This piece entitled Human Structures by Jonathan Borofsky is a permanent installation at 555 Mission Street.  The two heads are part of a series of three by Ugo Rondinone entitled Moonrise Sculptures.  The city of San Francisco has two ordinances to promote art. The first is a zoning code requiring downtown buildings to include privately owned public open space.  The second is a twenty-five year old law requiring that developers with large projects in the Financial District and along upper Market Street must spend at least 1 percent of their total construction budget on public art.  This is the reason that downtown is dotted with lovely spots like this that all can enjoy.

However, there is now a push by San Francisco Arts Commission that they have the right to approve this art.  Enough is enough.  Developers already have to show their plans to city planners and the department says it already works with developers to ensure that such art projects are publicly accessible and not artistically inappropriate.  It is bad enough that the little amount of public art we have in San Francisco is “art by committee”  please don’t water down the rest.

Stanlee Gatti proposed a foot sculpture for the “foot” of Market Street.  I loved the idea.  Hey they have a thumb in Paris.  What is wrong with a foot in San Francisco?  But alas, that is what happens when you have art by committee.  It becomes bland, and washed out, as though the public is to insipid to want to be challenged by their surroundings.

If you are going to pay for art, you should be able to put up what pleases you.  I appreciate the fact that it is reviewed for its appropriateness, whatever that means, but adding another layer of bureaucracy and hoity-toity opinions is just too much.

On another note the sculpture above is composed of 62 painted steel figures, interconnected to form 5 towers.  Each of the 62 life-size figures is water-jet cut from steel plate.  The heads are of mottled aluminum.

 

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  2 Responses to “San Francisco – Public v Private Art”

  1. SOMA – Faces » Art and Architecture - San Francisco says:
    June 28, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    […] I talked about the public space that you can find these adorable creatures, entitled Moonrise, here. […]

  2. “Human Structures” | WanderArt says:
    May 6, 2014 at 10:56 am

    […] Art and Architecture – San Francisco […]

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