Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Art in the Parks 1: Stan, Submerging Man



A new park opened last year in the South of Market neighborhood, named after a local Filipina woman who had won gold medals for diving at the 1948 Olympics in London. (Click here for a Fog City Journal article with Victoria attending its opening.)



The park extends from Harrison to Folsom Street, with beautiful sculptural panels (above) by the recently deceased artist Irene Pijoan fronting the Folsom Street side.



It's situated between Sixth and Seventh Streets which until this park was installed was a neighborhood of unrelieved concrete.



The place, in other words, feels like a genuine oasis, with the Hall of Justice and the City Jail looming over the Harrison Street side.



Last weekend the Black Rock Arts Foundation (click here for their site) installed a huge Burning Man sculpture that's going to be "temporary" art in the park.



The 18-foot-tall piece is called "Stan, The Submerging Man," made out of found objects and lots of colored 45 vinyl records.



It seems Stan is illuminated from within and when he was at Burning Man in 1999, he also played music, making him the world's largest jukebox.



According to the Black Rock website, "Stan wants to look out for local children and their families while they visit the new park."



"He is planning on standing guard at the park for six months." Sounds good to me, as he he certainly can't do a worse job than the local police department.

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