I love public art! I can be out in the world, just moving along through life, and I might be anywhere at all, and suddenly I come upon something that was placed there, just for me to look at, to study, to question, to enjoy, or maybe to laugh at. Okay, maybe it wasn’t placed there just for me. You can look at it, too. But the point is that it’s there for all to see and to take in, if you like, or to ignore if you so choose.
St. Petersburg has a LOT of public art installations scattered around the city and I still discover new ones every now and then. This post is about a new public art installation that I saw for the first time last weekend. I realize that this is a subjective opinion, but it’s my blog so I get to post my opinion: The sculpture is absolutely stunning!
This sculpture is called “O Wave”. Not “O-Wave”, as I’ve seen in some places, but just “O Wave”. It was created by artist/sculptor Gordon Huether, and it was commissioned by JMC Communities, the developers of the new luxury condominium, Ovation, in downtown St. Petersburg. The sculpture is a sixteen foot tall curving arc made of stainless steel and dichroic glass. The glass reflects and refracts and generally plays with the light, and it changes according to the angle that you view it from.
The artist, in a recent statement about the new sculpture, said, “With curves that evoke nearby waters and Ovation’s own undulating lines, glass that simultaneously transmits and reflects light, and reflective surfaces that capture ambient activity of nearby trees, sky and passersby, the fixed sculpture takes on a distinct animated character, creating a passively kinetic sculpture.”
I am posting two photos, just to give a little feel of the different look that it takes on. Please click on the photos to bring up a full-size version for a better look. But for the best look, head downtown and see this beautiful work for yourself! You’ll find it on Beach Drive, at the corner of Second Avenue North.
O Wave (click on photo for larger image)
Another View (click on picture for larger image)
