R-Evolution - a nude sculpture

The first time I was made aware of the existence of the nude woman sculpture,  R-Evolution, was from a small controversy from that the statue was installed in front of San Francisco Ferry Building. 

I got a chance to look at the sculpture in person when I visited San Francisco last week.

R-Evolution, is  14 meter tall, 15,000 kg sculpture of a nude woman in tadasana pose (yoga pose), which is made from Steel rod and tubing covered by stainless-steel mesh. It was first debuded  at Burning man festival in 2015.  The sculptor, Marco Cochrane, intended to demonstrate Feminine strength and liberation.

We arrived at Ferry Building early Monday morning around 8 am. A large swath of dark cloud was passing by, blocking the sunshine and brining light drilzz. 

The statue stands in the middle of Embarcadero Plaza, facing the incoming traffic on Market street, and the back facing the ferry building. I could see through from front torso but face and legs seemed to have skins. 

Walking around the sculpture, I  had similar observations, partially see through,  partially skinned. Of course this was effect of optics, it depends on lights and the angles I looked at it.

As we walked away, along San Francisco bay trail, the cloud broke up...semi transparent skin covered the full body of the statue. It looked more like a real naked person.

This is what people see coming out of the ferry building 

It is worth noting that when we were there, most people,  I assume locals, just walking by without even looking up...only tourists like us lingered.

This sculpture is a good representation of a woman - a tall woman with long legs, tight muscles, with eyes closed, arms stretched downward,  legs slightly parted ... practicing yoga.

In addition to its shape and form, what I am also intrested in was optical effect. That's why we went back to look at the statue on Tuesday night. 

At night, with strong colorful lights shone on it, , the sculpture looks quite different from day time. There are different colors to it, when I looked at from different angles. It looks more mysterious.

Nothing from the statue is provocative, vulgar or suggestive. It is another nude sculpture that projects positive energy. I was not sure what caused controversy for ordinary people until we came out of the Ferry building after an ice-cream treat on Wednesday afternoon ... the first thing one see is a buttock.

in the afternoon sunshine 

Notes

1. one thing, we did not observe was the breathing of the statue. 

https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974401/r-evolution-marco-cochrane-embarcadero-plaza-nude-woman-sculpture

2. The sculptor's other work  https://www.marcocochrane.com/