August 2022
Van Ness Avenue Between Geary and O’Farrell
These two sculptures were part of the Van Ness Avenue Improvement Project and are by Jorge Pardo.
Cuban-born, Jorge Pardo is an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist whose work explores the intersections of painting, sculpture, design, and architecture.
This untitled work consists of 13 steel figures that reach 21 feet at their tallest, topped by acrylic and fiberglass spheres. The two pieces are identical in form but painted in different shades consisting of citrus and peach tones, cool greens, and turquoise.
At night, the top halves of the spheres light up.
In his proposal to the commission, Pardo described the work as “an urban coastal redwood” and “an urban machine” that is “made of steel, light, and weather.”
The project was improved in 2015 and the Art Commission has removed all pre-2020 meetings from the internet, so I was unable to determine the cost of these sculptures.