Unique art amid an open space at the 555 Mission Plaza

June 23, 12:14 AMSF Travel ExaminerEd Uyeshima

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Ugo Rondinone's "Moonrise Sculptures: March, October and December" (Photos: Ed Uyeshima)

Sometimes it overwhelms the mind to blend commerce and art, as one always dominates the other depending on which side of your brain stirs your soul. At 11,000 square feet, the new plaza at 555 Mission in downtown San Francisco offers such a challenge with artwork that is not predicated upon any conventional presumption about those who choose to view it.

Developed by Tishman Speyer, 555 Mission is a slick, green-glass 34-story office tower with an adjacent open space dominated by two stunning pieces of art. There are the three gigantic heads that make up Ugo Rondinone’s “Moonrise Sculptures: March, October, and December". Made out of mottled aluminum, they have a look that crosses the mystical and mysterious Easter Island heads with the big-brained aliens who arrive in the finale of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. They are spaced apart by benches and backed by a wall lined with planter boxes that will eventually form a sea of suspended green foliage.

The plaza’s centerpiece is Jonathan Borofsky’s “Human Structures”, a galvanized, painted steel installation that stands 36 feet. It is composed of 62 painted steel figures, interconnecting to form five cylindrical towers. According to the artist’s Web site, each of the 62 life-size figures is water-jet cut from steel plate, and then each is given its structural folds. Before painting, the figures are galvanized and finally coated with twelve urethane colors. The figures are bolted together hand-to-hand and head-to-toe with a series of multicolored connector plates.

Black granite benches and a series of gingko trees complete the plaza, and the end result creatively fulfills the city's open-space requirement for commercial development. Along with the high, glassed-in atrium at 101 Second Street and the striking bamboo forest across the street at 560 Mission, the 555 Mission Plaza provides a nice respite for office workers and tourists alike.

Ugo Rondinone’s “Moonrise Sculptures: March, October and December" (Photo: Ed Uyeshima)

 

Looking up from the inside of Jonathan Borofsky’s “Human Structures” (Photo from www.borofsky.com)