Fogged In Sculpture

San Francisco, California

945 Market Street

The sculpture, which occupies the five story atrium of the new Market Street Place, is an abstraction of the fog and a vessel within the fog. The fog starts at the lobby floor and rises up in a series of clouds scattered through the space and visually lead the eye up to a large cloud beneath the ‘sky’light at the top of the space. Within the upper cloud is an abstracted refraction of a vessel and light. Like a ship or plane moving through the fog, the legibility of this craft is intended to appear differently from every vantage point from which it can be seen. As people pass on the street, ride up or down the escalators, or walk around the piece on the upper floor, the sculpture takes on a new life and clarity. It is only at the top floor that viewers can see that the vessel has space with-in and that there are glimpses through to the sky above. The effect of the vessel appearing and disappearing is achieved by creating an abstracted cloud with a field of pipes with changing frequencies and lengths around the floating object. To further obscure the vessel, it is faceted and twisted like a distorted reflection on the water. Much like first seeing a ship in the fog, the viewer has an initial understanding of what they see, but it isn’t until the light changes, or they move to another vantage point, that they really understand what it is they see.

Unbuilt

Brian Wickersham (Principal-in-Charge), Brent Lucy, Ricardo Moura

Fabricator - Arktura