Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Six Degrees
2825 Diamond Street Glen Park Six Degrees is an artwork installed in the entrance of Glen Park Branch Library done in 2007 for $36,000. The artists are Reddy Lieb and Linda Raynsford. The circular art elements were inspired by the history and ecology of Glen Park. The circle, which the artists used as their main geometric…
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NYCHOS
500 Geary Lower Nob Hill Austrian street artist NYCHOS is in town for the opening his show “Street Anatomy” at Fifty24SF Gallery on April 18th. In conjunction with the show, he has been putting up a few pieces around town. According to his facebook page the Austrian urban art and graffiti illustrator Nychos was…
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Maynard Dixon and A Pageant of Traditions
The Stanley Mosk Library and Court Building Gillis Hall 914 Capitol Mall Sacramento, CA I recently toured the newly restored California State Library building. The $62 million restoration brought the library/courts building into the modern age. (The project came in under budget at around $49 million). Although this Maynard Dixon mural experienced a small amount…
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Os Redeiros
This striking and strong sculpture is by Ramon Conde and stands on the Gran Via in Vigo Spain. Titled Os Redeiros it is of seven nude fisherman straining to pull in a net. The city of Vigo is a major fishing port in Spain. Ramón Conde was born in Ourense Spain December 18, 1951, the…
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Rainbow Honor Walk
Castro Street Between Market and 20th There are twenty individuals honored on the Rainbow Honor Walk. According to the Walks website: The Rainbow Honor Walk seeks to honor heroines & heroes of the LGBT communities through a sidewalk tribute in San Francisco’s historic Castro district to honor their contributions. The Rainbow Honor Walk is an…
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Sprinter at the Koret
Koret Health and Recreation Center 2130 Fulton Street Inner Richmond This bronze sculpture sits directly to the right of the entry door to the University of San Francisco’s, Koret Health and Recreation Center. It is an 8′ tall bronze by Edith Peres-Lethmate. According to the Smithsonian the sculpture is a large-scale version of a sculpture executed…
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Camilo Cienfuegos
Revolution Plaza Havana, Cuba On the Ministry of Ministry of Communications building is another line sculpture by Enrique Avila Gonzales. This one is of a lesser known revolutionary hero, Camilo Cienfuegos, shown here with his signature cowboy hat. The sculpture was erected in 2009. The words “Vas bien, Fidel” (You’re doing fine, Fidel) on the…
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Che Guevara, Korda and Gonzales
Plaza de Revolucion Havana, Cuba Plaza de la Revolución “Revolution Square” is one of the 13 largest outdoor plazas in the world. The square is notable as being where many political rallies take place and Fidel Castro and other political figures address Cubans. Fidel Castro has addressed more than a million Cubans on many occasions, such as…
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Dr. Burt Brent and his Hippopatomus
San Francisco Zoo Sloat and The Great Highway Lakeside This hippopotamus is not only a wonderful sculpture but a favorite climbing creature in the San Francisco Zoo. Heavyweight was sculpted by Dr. Burt Brent of Portola Valley. According to a 2007 article in the Almanac: Dr. Burt Brent, a plastic surgeon with an office in…
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El Caballero de Paris
This is one of my favorite public sculptures in Havana, and as you can see how the patina has been worn off, I am not the only one that has a fondness for this character. El Caballero de París was José Maria López Lledín (1920s-1977), was a well-known street person in Havana, Cuba in the…
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John Lennon in Cuba
Lennon Park Havana, Cuba In the John Lennon Park at 17th and 6th, is a sculpture of the former Beatles member , sculpted by Cuban artist José Villa Soberón. On a marble tile at the foot of the bench there is an inscription: “Dirás que soy un soñador pero no soy el único” John Lennon, it…
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Benny Moré
Prado Promenade Cienfuegos, Cuba Benny Moré (Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez, 24 August 1919 – 19 February 1963), or Benny, was a Cuban singer. He is often thought of as the greatest Cuban popular singer of all time. He was musical, and had a fluid tenor voice which he colored and phrased with great expressivity. Moré…
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Yasser Arafat in Cuba
7th Avenida Havana, Cuba Havana, Cuba, Nov. 24 2012 In the words of its sculptor, Andres Gonzalez Gonzalez, the bust reveals “a kindhearted leader who fought hard for the freedom of his people.” The monument measures 1.95 meters. The installation ceremony was presided over by Jose Ramon Balaguer, member of Cuba’s Communist Party Central…
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@Large Ai Weiwei Part 4
Alcatraz Island September 27, 2014 to April 26, 2015 There are two audio exhibits in this exhibition. The first can be found in the first floor, cell block A of the Cellhouse. Inside each cell, you can stand, although, as you can see, stools are provided, while you listen to spoken words, poetry, and music…
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Refraction @Large Ai Weiwei Part 3
Alcatraz Island September 27, 2014 to April 26 2015 You are not able to view this piece from any place other than the guards catwalk above the room, while peering through panes of glass, this is why I have had to take the photo from the website. It was a very foggy day when I…
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Trace @Large Ai Weiwei Part 2
Alcatraz Island September 27, 2014 to April 26, 2015 This is Trace. The most ambitious, the most highly touted, the most written about, and yet, in my opinon, the one that least lived up to expectations. This entire project is made of 1.2 MILLION LEGO blocks. It took a long time for the committee that…
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With Wind @Large Ai Weiwei Part 1
Alcatraz Island September 27, 2014 to April 26, 2015 If you have read this blog often you will know that I am a huge Ai Weiwei fan. I finally had the opportunity to visit the installation of his work on Alcatraz Island, and walked away as impressed as ever. There is so much that has…
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Lover’s Lane
Lover’s Lane The Presidio There is a small trail in the Presidio titled Lover’s Lane. It has a well known history that you can read on the plaque found at one end of what is still existing of this trail. The sign reads: “This trail has witnessed the passing of Spanish soldiers, Franciscan missionaries and…
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Home Savings and Public Art
98 West Portal Avenue Corner of Vicente and West Portal West Portal This mosaic is on the outside of the bank that stands at the corner. At the time of the commission of the art (1976-77), the bank was a Home Savings Bank. This particular mural was a collaboration between Millard Owen Sheets, Denis O’Connor and designer Susan…
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Los Lobos de Loyola
University of San Francisco Fulton Street In Front of Gleeson Library/Geshke Center Inner Richmond Commissioned by USF this piece was installed November of 2011. The 2-ton work, Los Lobos de Loyola, depicts the wolves and stewpot from the family coat of arms of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. Some say the 15th-century image…
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Abstract Sculpture in BART
16th and Mission 24th and Mission Bart Stations Mission District These abstract, cast stone, pieces can be found in both the 16th and Mission and 24th and Mission BART stations. The works are by William George Mitchell. Mitchell (born 1925) is an English sculptor, artist and designer. He is best known for his large scale…
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Mission Branch Library and Leo Lentelli
Mission Branch Library 24th Between Bartlett and Orange Alley Mission District Leo Lentelli was one of San Francisco’s more prolific and well known sculptors during his time. Sadly very little of his work survives inside of the city. There is a beautiful piece at the Hunter Dunlin building downtown, and this sculpture over the original entry…
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What are those ruins in the parking lot of the San Francisco Zoo?
San Francisco Zoo The Parking Lot Sloat and The Great Highway This small monument is a remnant of a once great institution of San Francisco, the Fleishacker Pool. Fleishhacker Pool, like the San Francisco Zoo, was a gift to San Francisco by Herbert Fleishhacker. The idea, conceived by John McLaren, designer of Golden Gate Park, was…
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155 Sansome Street
155 Sansome Street Financial District The sculptures over the Sansome Street entrance to the Pacific Stock Exchange, now the City Club, were done in 1929-1930 by Ralph Stackpole. Stackpole has been in this website many times before and you can read about him and his work here. On January 18, 1930 Junius Cravens of the Argonaut…
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Barnyard Watchdogs
San Francisco Zoo Entry to the Children’s Zoo Barnyard Watchdogs by Burt Brent This cute sculpture and climbing item is by Dr. Burt Brent. Dr. Brent is a reconstructive plastic surgeon best known for his work in reconstructing the absent outer ear. He has repaired ear defects in 1,800 patients, most of them children born with…
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Hearst Grizzly Gulch
San Francisco Zoo This grizzly by Tom Schrey graces the Hearst Grizzly Gulch building at the SF Zoo. Tom has a degree from California College of the Arts and presently works at Artworks Foundry. The following was excerpted from a June 15, 2007 SF Gate article by Patricia Yollin: Three summers ago, two…
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Bizim Cebish Muellim
Baku Boulevard Baku, Azerbaijan Baku Boulevard is a beautiful walking esplanade on the Caspian Sea that fronts almost the whole of Baku. There are hundreds of bronze whimsical statues along the boulevard. This fellow is a character from the Movie “Bizim Cebish Muellim”. I found no signatures on any of the sculptures and there is…
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Twelve Beauties
İçəri Şəhər Old City or Inner City Baku Azerbaijan This sculpture by Nail Alakbarov cuts along the edges of İçəri Şəhər. The description that accompanies the sculpture far better explains the situation than I ever can… This composition represents a sculptural image of seven armudi glasses standing on top of each other. Armudi is the name…
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The Responsibility of Raising a Child
5th Avenue between Yamhill and Taylor Streets Portland, OR Along the TriMet route you will find this 2004 bronze buy Rick Bartow. Rick Bartow weaves Native American symbols of parenting and life cycles throughout The Responsibility of Raising a Child. The sculpture started out expressing the difficult circumstances of single parents, but by placing the infant…
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Nepenthes
Along NorthWest Davis Street Portland, OR These amazing structures are by Seattle based artist Dan Corson and are titled Nepenthes. There are four of them along NorthWest Davis Street ,each standing 17 feet tall covered in photo-voltaic cells. The elements glow at night. Nepenthes, named after the magical greek potion that eliminates sorrow and suffering.…
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