Artist:
Eugene Sturman
Title:
Homage to Cabrillo: Venetian Quadrant
Year:
1985
Adress:
888 International Tower
www.publicartinla.com:
Combining a large three wheel roller, a dome for a time capsule, a spiral, and an upward thrusting spear-like element, Sturman's design appears both futuristic and primitive.
The spiral is positioned as if it pushed a lever inside its container-like base that raised the cylinder-shaped leg facing Figueroa. The spear-shaped component appears to be balanced by a structural support extended outward by the movement of the three-wheel roller toward 9th Street.
Sturman incorporated a variety of strong durable materials, including bronze for the dome, cupric nickel for the spiral, stainless steel in the leg and bundles, and copper throughout, to help make the sculpture maintenance free. He designed the screws and bolts larger than what is necessary to hold each of the four components together in order to enhance the suggestion of an earlier mechanical age.
www.publicartinla.com:
The four components making up the work form the "quadrant" referenced in the work's title. According to Sturman, the title links the design to both the cutting-edge technology, exploration and discovery now being undertaken in the city and to the past exploration and discoveries of the Spanish and Venetians. "I chose to pay homage to Juan Cabrillo," Sturman said, "because of his discoveries along the coast of California. But the Venetian subtitle is a personal tribute and a kinship I feel for the birthplace of Marco Polo and the Golden Age of the doges when people were experimenting with such devices as sextants and astrolabes, and people like Leonardo Da Vinci were laying the ground for new discoveries and, for achieving 'impossible dreams.'
www.crala.org:
"Homage to Cabrillo: Venetian Quadrant" is a multi-part sculpture that marks the gateway to the South Park District in Downtown Los Angeles. Austere yet playful, the stainless steel and bronze installation is comprised of four main elements that form a quadrant that represents the four corners of the earth, or the four points of the celestial sphere. Two long conical shapes encompass a time capsule.
www.art-nerd.com:
His project proposal involved creating a time capsule that would document contemporary downtown Los Angeles. Stylistically, he aimed to create a structure that would evoke the ideas of exploration and movement into the future. He called the finished multi-component work Homage To Cabrillo: The Venetian Quadrant in reference to Cabrillo’s discovery of California and to the Venetian cannon of explorers.
www.latimes.com:
Eugene Sturman: "Once your work is selected, you have a job and it has nothing to do with art. In a way, it's a liberating experience, compared to the slippery aspects of the art world. You have deadlines. You have to deal with engineers, fabricators, inspectors and guys who count every bolt in the sculpture. You also have to work with people who have no experience with contemporary art and respond to the unfamiliar with ridicule or anger."
But, over time, Sturman's respect for the workmen's skills was returned by their warming up to his artwork. "They began to see something about the Space Age, elements of Jules Verne or the geometric structure in my sculpture" he noted. "As the adventurous metal work neared completion, one man approached the artist and declared, 'Hey, man, this isn't that weird.' 'You know, you're right'" Sturman countered.
www.crala.org:
Eugene Sturman was born in New York City in 1945. Sturman received his BFA from Alfred University, followed by his MA from the University of New Mexico, and later studied printing at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Sturman’s work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The artist was commissioned to create an outdoor sculpture piece for the Otis College of Art and Design at its former location across from Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park and doors for the Palos Verdes Community Arts Center.
Combining a large three wheel roller, a dome for a time capsule, a spiral, and an upward thrusting spear-like element, Sturman's design appears both futuristic and primitive.
The spiral is positioned as if it pushed a lever inside its container-like base that raised the cylinder-shaped leg facing Figueroa. The spear-shaped component appears to be balanced by a structural support extended outward by the movement of the three-wheel roller toward 9th Street.
Sturman incorporated a variety of strong durable materials, including bronze for the dome, cupric nickel for the spiral, stainless steel in the leg and bundles, and copper throughout, to help make the sculpture maintenance free. He designed the screws and bolts larger than what is necessary to hold each of the four components together in order to enhance the suggestion of an earlier mechanical age.
www.publicartinla.com:
The four components making up the work form the "quadrant" referenced in the work's title. According to Sturman, the title links the design to both the cutting-edge technology, exploration and discovery now being undertaken in the city and to the past exploration and discoveries of the Spanish and Venetians. "I chose to pay homage to Juan Cabrillo," Sturman said, "because of his discoveries along the coast of California. But the Venetian subtitle is a personal tribute and a kinship I feel for the birthplace of Marco Polo and the Golden Age of the doges when people were experimenting with such devices as sextants and astrolabes, and people like Leonardo Da Vinci were laying the ground for new discoveries and, for achieving 'impossible dreams.'
www.crala.org:
"Homage to Cabrillo: Venetian Quadrant" is a multi-part sculpture that marks the gateway to the South Park District in Downtown Los Angeles. Austere yet playful, the stainless steel and bronze installation is comprised of four main elements that form a quadrant that represents the four corners of the earth, or the four points of the celestial sphere. Two long conical shapes encompass a time capsule.
www.art-nerd.com:
His project proposal involved creating a time capsule that would document contemporary downtown Los Angeles. Stylistically, he aimed to create a structure that would evoke the ideas of exploration and movement into the future. He called the finished multi-component work Homage To Cabrillo: The Venetian Quadrant in reference to Cabrillo’s discovery of California and to the Venetian cannon of explorers.
www.latimes.com:
Eugene Sturman: "Once your work is selected, you have a job and it has nothing to do with art. In a way, it's a liberating experience, compared to the slippery aspects of the art world. You have deadlines. You have to deal with engineers, fabricators, inspectors and guys who count every bolt in the sculpture. You also have to work with people who have no experience with contemporary art and respond to the unfamiliar with ridicule or anger."
But, over time, Sturman's respect for the workmen's skills was returned by their warming up to his artwork. "They began to see something about the Space Age, elements of Jules Verne or the geometric structure in my sculpture" he noted. "As the adventurous metal work neared completion, one man approached the artist and declared, 'Hey, man, this isn't that weird.' 'You know, you're right'" Sturman countered.
www.crala.org:
Eugene Sturman was born in New York City in 1945. Sturman received his BFA from Alfred University, followed by his MA from the University of New Mexico, and later studied printing at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Sturman’s work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The artist was commissioned to create an outdoor sculpture piece for the Otis College of Art and Design at its former location across from Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park and doors for the Palos Verdes Community Arts Center.