Replacing the henge of large felines, the mesmeric, metallic “Talking Heads” piece has now officially debuted at Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley.
The tall feline monoliths in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley for over a year were officially taken down on March 26th last year. The space has since laid unoccupied; those who saddled the benches encircling the area had nothing to gaze at while cupping their coffees and pondering mortality. This has now changed — the open gazing, that is — after the San Francisco Arts Commission installed Patricia’s Green’s newest large art piece.
Created by sculpturist Oleg Lobykin, the 18-foot-tall polished stainless steel towers over the area. The monolith dwarfs the former felines it replaces and is meant to have an equally resonating message about embracing the immaterial in a world hellbent on consumption.
“The sculpture’s form explores the principles of positive and negative space, void and substance,” reads a press release about the sculpture. “By interacting with their reflections in its mirrored-polished finish, viewers are invited to interpret the artwork’s meaning from their own unique perspectives.”
Hayes Valley’s newest sculpture sits inside a growing niche of local public art. San Francisco has become a recent mecca for large pieces of polished stainless steel art — most notably after the installation of “Venus” — a 92-foot-tall structure downtown — in 2016 that remains the tallest sculpture in San Francisco. Other large-scale iterations of stainless steel art exist throughout San Francisco (think the massive “I Love You” stainless steel heart at Francisco Park), but none have quite the Rorschach test as Talking Heads.
(For those looking to see a mixed-media piece that incorporates stainless steel and other metals, the 20-foot blue bronze and stainless-steel sculpture “ISLAIS” in Bayview is among the most impressive anywhere along the West Coast; it shape references the estuary’s shape and watersheds and shines with LEDs at night.)
“Public art plays a vital role in enriching our communities, and Patricia’s Green continues to be a vibrant canvas for diverse and thought-provoking installations, ” said Director of Cultural Affairs, Ralph Remington. “Oleg Lobykin’s Talking Heads is a perfect example of how art can spark conversation and encourage personal reflection, all while contributing to the dynamic energy of Hayes Valley. The Arts Commission is proud to continue this long-standing tradition of bringing world-class public art to our neighborhoods, creating spaces where both residents and visitors can engage, connect, and be inspired.”
Residents and visitors alike can see the sculpture Patricia Green while they contemplate all the things, all the stuff, all the what-ifs in this new era of American politics.
