MONARCH
Cliff Garten (2015)
Permanent
Mission Bay: 1600 Owens St., Kaiser Permanente Medical Offices (View Map)
The monumental stainless steel and LED sculpture Monarch by Cliff Garten envisions the Monarch butterfly and its migration habits as a metaphor for how individuals become stronger by gathering together in communities. The artwork’s massing of Monarch butterflies forms a completely new image – the sculpture as a vision of the city’s neighborhoods, which Kaiser Permanente serves. Light is an integral part of the piece. During the day, sunlight emanates through the installation, enlivening individual stainless steel butterflies; at night, programmable LED lighting illuminates the gathering of Monarchs with multi-colored luminescence. In keeping with San Francisco’s percent-for-art requirement for new building construction, the piece was chosen by a team of local Kaiser Permanente staff with guidance from art advisor Chandra Cerrito and installed adjacent to the building. Monarch is part of a comprehensive art program for the new nine-story building that features 80 new artworks and 50 existing pieces, including eight large-scale architecturally-integrated super graphic images commissioned by local plein-air painter Anthony Holdsworth, celebrating San Francisco neighborhoods.
Best Viewing: The sculpture can be experienced in the park adjacent to the Kaiser Permanente Mission Bay Medical Offices’ building entrance at 1600 Owens Street. Arrive after dusk to view the oscillating LED illumination.
