On January 8, 2022, I begun three months long Public Art project in San Juan’s Parque Central. Using the chain saw I was carving a 10’ tall Mahogany (Caoba) tree trunk at an area between two highway ramps with heavy on-going traffic.
Initially as I was working, many drivers were slowing down showing me thumbs up. As my sculpture started to take shape people begun to voice their feelings more enthusiastically yelling “Bonito”. It was clear to me that my project was almost like a performance for them. I had a very strong feeling of creating the public piece of art. The people that passed me by owned it, they get entertained by it and perhaps they felt happier for a moment. I was working on a Public Sculpture, and it made me feel very useful and good.
I noticed at some point that the triangular pieces of mahogany wood I was cutting out looked like a “little sculpture” on their own. I started to play with them marveling at their interesting and dynamic shapes.
One very early morning I woke up with an idea of how to incorporate all these feelings to create “the public project”.
As my sculpture is cut out the original wood trunk gives away part of itself and in a way, these left-over pieces are part of this final piece of art. (See dr. 1)
These pieces will get finished, named, numbered, and presented to the public.
I envision a fund-raising event where the completed sculpture is presented in a video, its small pieces are auctioned to the public and corporate sponsors. Raised money will be used for the next art piece and repairs of public sidewalks around them.
