Your Essential Magnificence

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Title: Your Essential Magnificence
Photo Credit: Philip Rogers
Lead Artist(s):

Description:

This sculpture was commissioned as part of a corridor improvement project along historic Congress Avenue through the iconic area of South Austin nicknamed "SOCO". This district is peppered with unique small business, and has an eclectic and colorful "Keep Austin Weird" aesthetic. It is located along the Avenue on a median between two side streets so that pedestrians can stop and safely gather around it. The sculpture was built in sixty-five sections and then installed and completed at the site. Hidden inside as part of the ballast are objects and mementos, which the artist collected from iconic South Austin places past and present such as Broken Spoken and the Armadillo World Headquarters. The artist's stated goal was to make "a colorful, bold, eclectic, tactile, and 'weird' icon in the finest South Austin tradition." His sculpture has succeeded in that regard and is well suited to its context. The artist also views the sculpture as a shrine to individuality and to the inherent goodness, majesty and essential magnificence of each human being. He encourages people to use it as a backdrop for photo ops.

PROJECT LOCATION

Streetscape
At the corner of South Congress and Live Oak near 2169 S Congress St, streetscape median
2169 S Congress St.
Austin, TX 78704
United States

click the map to enlarge
PROJECT TEAM

City of Austin Art in Public Places Program
Jean Graham
City of Austin Art in Public Places Program
PROJECT DETAILS

Permanent
$40,000
Percent-for-Art
Sculpture
Ceramic, Concrete/Masonry, Found/Recycled Objects, Glass
Ferro cement, ceramic, glass, concrete, collected objects
2011
2012