Client: Brunsfield America

Overview

Six site specific mixed media paintings were designed for the lobby of Brunsfield North Loop Apartments in downtown Minneapolis, MN. Three horizontal paintings, each measuring 40″ high x 50″ wide. were installed in two recessed wall sections, one measuring 12‘ wide and the other 6‘ wide. Three additional pieces, each measuring 60″ high and 30″ wide were installed on a 16’ wide wall.

Goals

Our goal was to create work of art that is unique and meaningful to the project, and tells a story about the building. To accomplish that, we drew inspirations from site specific elements especially during the building construction phase. The finished art now reflects on the spirit of community, its surroundings, building materials and parts that formed the completed building.

Process

The owner provided access to all of the building, usually on weekends, for shooting the project during construction. The construction phase of the project provided ample opportunities of us to collect images of elements that inspire the story telling. The lens of the camera captured the surroundings, building parts and compositions in their exposed conditions in ways seldom seen under normal conditions. It was my digitally manipulated photos of the project that I used as collage to construct intriguing forms as the foundation of the composition on panels. I then applied many layers of oils, mixed with cold wax medium which provided interesting textures, colors and depth. The linear detail was a visual pathway throughout the composition and implied the elements of an architectural drawing. The result were compositions that played with the viewer’s mind and fused multiple perspectives.

Additional Information

After twenty years of doing site specific commissions, it was very gratifying and exciting for me to finally have the opportunity to work on a project that incorporated the design from infrastructure stage to completion. It was a pleasure to work with the owner and its representative, who is also a registered architect, as I believe our vision for the finished art was the same...art that provided meaning, warmth and strong contemporary architectural design elements that truly reflected the aesthetics of the building and the context - a perfect fit for the style of my work.