Three different perspectives

As I was out and about the city recently, I saw three works that addressed the environment from very different perspectives, but all three really touched me.

The first was part of 2008 Park(ing) Day, which I’ve written about before:

Paper Moon Park

Unfortunately I was able to see only a few of this year’s parking place parks, but I would certainly rate Paper Moon Park, the giant moon swing by Aguamala, DPW, and RPD, high on the list of all the parks I’ve seen from this and other years. Not only was it a wonderfully fanciful contrast to all the sedate civic buildings nearby, but it drew people in, encouraged interaction and communication, and made everyone smile. A perfect use of public space!

I found a very different view of the moon in the mosaic tile pieces that ornament the gates of a parking lot on Mission and Fifth Streets:

I dream as I walk through the moon

I can hear the animals go wild

The girl that came from the sun

These mosaics were done in the 1990s as part of ArtSpan’s South of Market Youth Project. Youth mainly 12 to 17 years old from the West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Corporation/South of Market Teen Center worked with lead artist Johanna Poethig to create poetry as well as ceramic tiles for the project, and the craftsmanship of both is excellent. I’ve seen them many times as I’ve walked by over the years, and I’ve always found them very poignant. In a gritty part of the city that has seen pretty much everything, and coming from families that have experienced poverty and displacement, the young artists have expressed their visions of an environment that contains magic, beauty, and peace. The lines at the bottom of the “I walk through the moon” piece read: “My hood is so quiet I can hear the ants talk 2 each other.”

On a very different scale is the current exhibit at the Robert Koch Gallery— Joel Meyerowitz’s series of photographs “The Elements: Air/Water Part I”:

Joel Meyerowitz, Air/Water Number 2 (Koch Gallery)

The genesis of the series was a video of Olympic divers Meyerowitz was directing from an underwater viewing room. But the photographs go far beyond a representation of Olympic divers.

Joel Meyerowitz, Air/Water Number 14 (Koch Gallery)

As Meyerowitz said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, “I want to look at the stuff the world is made of, the pure stuff, the purity of air, water, fire and earth.” The pieces are powerful and entrancing, because they do show us the stuff the world is made of and, in part because of their large format, bring us right into the midst of it. For me they were an echo of Bill Viola’s spectacular 2004–2005 video installation “Five Angels for the Millenium“:

Departing Angel from Five Angels for the Millennium, Bill Viola (still/detail), 2001 video installation Photo: Kira Perov © Bill Viola

even more so because Meyerowitz has also done a wonderful, hypnotic video of Air/Water, which can be seen on the Koch Gallery website (but is of course infinitely better at the gallery). In addition to these underwater images, the show includes a number of more representational photographs of the elements:

Joel Meyerowitz, Dusk (Koch Gallery)

The Paper Moon Park was ephemeral, as views of the moon are, but if you’re in San Francisco you can see the Meyerowitz show through November 1. (A Selection from “The Elements: Air/Water, Part I” will also be at the Lobby Gallery, 449 Park Avenue, New York City through October 7.) The Youth Project mosaics will hopefully be in place for some time to reflect and enhance the urban environment.