4th and Folsom
South of Market
This piece, sponsored by the SFAC, is by Randy Colosky. It is titled Ellipses in the Key of Blue.
According to Randy’s Website: Ellipses is the Key of Blue is 140 ft. long x 8 ft. tall, digitally printed and drawing mounted on plywood.
According to the sign on the wall next to the piece: Ellipsis in the Key of Blue is a temporary mural by Randy Colosky commissioned for the construction barricade at the site of the upcoming Central Subway Yerba Buena/Moscone Station. Colosky has worked in the building trades and is interested in the formal by products of the construction process. The imagery for this mural was crated with drafting templates used in mechanical drawing. Through repetition the template pattern becomes visually sculptural as it incrementally shifts, revealing how small movements make up a much larger gesture.
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The drafting template offers an interesting scenario in that it is a fixed pattern. Like fractals repeating in nature, the template pattern (as it is incrementally moved in the act of drawing) generates its own algorithm. According to the artist, “this fixed algorithm takes the decision making out of my hands as to the ultimate composition, which makes the drawing process more of a meditative execution of the piece.”
I personally thought it looked just like my screen when I win a game of spider solitaire. It is really and truly mesmerizing.
It is a bit tough to shoot as the surface is very, very shiny.
Randy is an Oakland based artist. He received his BFA in ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute.
The Central Subway is a line being built connecting ATT Park with Chinatown, going through SOMA and Union Square, a distance of 1.7 miles at a cost of $1.578 billion. The project is funded primarily through the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program. In October 2012, the FTA approved a Full Funding Grant Agreement, the federal commitment of funding through New Starts, for the Central Subway for a total amount of $942.2 million. The Central Subway is also funded by the State of California, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and the City and County of San Francisco.
The three stops, this one in SOMA, Union Square and Chinatown, all are large construction sites at this time, if you are a visitor to San Francisco, that is what is happening, and will for several more years.
The SFAC funding was accomplished with Resolution number 0603-13-151: Motion to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into an agreement with Randy Colosky for an amount not to exceed $25,000 to design artwork imagery and create production files for the Central Subway: Construction Barricade Temporary Art Public Art Project for Yerba Buena/Moscone Station, which will be on display for one year from approximately mid-2013 through mid-2014.