Thanks to the generosity of Buzz and Helen Kinnaird, all gifts will be matched with a $20,000 matching grant.
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The
San Diego Museum of Art looks out upon one of San Diego's greatest gathering
spaces, Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama. It is only fitting that the Museum
expands its exhibition space to surround the plaza – bringing a meaningful artistic experience to the many visitors who
converge on this breathtaking public square.
Partnering with the City of San
Diego, the Museum hopes to make the Plaza an even better place by creating Art
of the Open Air. This sculpture exhibition embodies the principle that art should be accessible to everyone and
advances the Museum toward its goal of presenting the best of its collection to
the public free of charge.
Eight modern, monumental
sculptures that have been confined to storage due to space restraints will be
set free and reinstated for the public to view – bringing culturally diverse works of art to the heart of Balboa Park.
Among these eight significant
sculptures is Tony Rosenthal’s Odyssey III, currently
undergoing conservation and cleaning before it is ready to be brought back into the open
for visitors to experience and enjoy. Your donation of any amount will support the Museum's mission and the return of Rosenthal’s iconic bright red aluminum sculpture for the public to view once again.
Make the Rosenthal your own by
being a part of the art and setting it free.
We need YOUR help to
#FreeTheArt!
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Proposed installation view.
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The Plaza de Panama in front of the
Museum’s entrance has been a site of transformation recently, taking on new
life as a bright and lively space for park visitors to relax and recreate. Art of
the Open Air will provide the opportunity for the local community and
visitors from around the world to encounter the beauty and complexity of these
works as they assemble on the Plaza de Panama. Art is a vital part of any community, and
this public art project will be open to
all, free of charge, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It will give visitors the
opportunity to explore sculptures staged to interact with their environment and
that represent the incredible variety and artistic innovation of the past
century--offering a compelling range of subject matter, perspectives, and
forms. Art of the Open Air can be experienced
time and time again, providing a new and fresh perspective with each visit.
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Proposed locations of the sculptures on the Plaza de Panama.
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Doesn’t
The San Diego Museum of Art receive government funding? Good question! Yes, the
Museum receives only 3% of its funds from the local government. This funding supports the general operating budget and core functions including building
maintenance, collections care, and research. Initiatives like Art of the Open Air aren’t covered by
these funds, which means that if we wish to undertake them, we must find
another way to fund them. In other words, we won’t be able to complete this
project without YOU!
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Tony Rosenthal 1914-2009
Tony Rosenthal was an American
sculptor best known for his monumental public art sculptures located in cities all
over the United States including Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, Philadelphia, and
New York City. Art critic and Rosenthal biographer Sam Hunter called Tony Rosenthal
a “public art legend.” Working in a variety of mediums--bronze, aluminum,
brass, wood, and concrete--Tony Rosenthal produced sculptures for over six
decades.
Born Bernard Rosenthal on
August 9, 1914, in Highland Park, Illinois, Tony attended evening and Saturday
sculpture classes at the Art Institute of Chicago during his last two years in
high school. He received his degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and after graduation, Rosenthal returned to Chicago and began
taking sculpture classes from Ukrainian avant-garde artist Alexander Archipenko. Although influenced by Archipenko's abstract forms, Rosenthal's early work consisted mainly of figurative works in marble and granite.
During World War II, Rosenthal was stationed in England and Paris, where he produced topographical models for the US Army and Air Force. He also taught sculpture for six months in Biarritz, France, where he met his wife, Halina, one of his students. After the war, Rosenthal was discharged from service, returned to the US and continued his sculpture career.
In 1960, Rosenthal moved to New York, at the behest of his art dealer, Sam Kootz, who also persuaded him to use his nickname, Tony, professionally and to abandon figurative sculpture in favor of abstract geometric sculptures. Seven years later, Tony created Alamo, which was part of a temporary, citywide installation of twenty-five public sculptures in New York City. At the request of of members of the community, the sculpture remained in place and was one of the first abstract sculptures permanently installed in the city. From that moment on, Rosenthal would be considered a master of monumental public sculpture.
Odyssey III
Odyssey III is a monumental abstract sculpture composed of five intersecting aluminum discs, welded at the joints and painted in a semi-reflective orange-red paint. It was cast in 1973 and the Museum purchased the sculpture in 1974 with matching funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Like other abstract artists, Rosenthal has reduced the basic forms to a simple shape and the limitations of the sculpture are established by the planes of the overall pyramidal form.The curvilinear lines of the discs' edges provide a flowing relief from both the material the artist uses and the confinement of the space the sculpture occupies.
Rosenthal's Odyssey III is part of his larger Rings, Discs and Rondo series, which he explored for over five decades in both large and small scale. The sculpture at The San Diego Museum of Art is one of four in a series, all of which bear the title of Odyssey. All four sculptures, Odyssey I through Odyssey IV, consist of intersecting painted orange-red aluminum discs and were cast between 1971 and 1992. Odyssey I is located at the Middleheim Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, an open-air museum with over 200 sculptures. The other two sculptures are located in the United States. Odyssey II is part of the Yale University Art Gallery's collection in Hartford, Connecticut and Odyssey IV is located in Miami, Florida.
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Currently, the sculpture is at an off-site conservation painting lab.
Odyssey III was in need of conservation, along with a new paint job, after years of being exposed to the elements. Once the paint cures,
Odyssey III will be returned to storage, where it will stay, unless you help us to #FreeTheArt!
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During the several years the sculpture was exhibited outside,Odyssey III suffered
the effects of exposure to weather and pollution. The welds that hold the discs
together were showing surface oxidation, the iconic red paint was blanched from
the sun, the discs' edges were chipped and abraded, and the surface had
numerous areas of pen and scratched graffiti. In order to work on the
sculpture, The Museum moved Odyssey III to an off-site conservation facility,
where the existing paint layer was stripped and blasted down to the bare
aluminum with carbon dioxide pellets projected in a pressurized air stream.
After the old paint layer was removed, the aluminum was cleaned with alcohol,
and the dents on the sculpture were filled, smoothed, and sanded. The sculpture
then received a base coat that provides an impermeable moisture barrier
and prevents corrosion.Odyssey
IIIwas then painted with three coats of
paint that most closely matches the original "Chinese Red" color,
which is no longer available. The paint on the sculpture is now curing at the
conservation facility. Once the sculpture is completely cured,Odyssey III will be put back in the Museum's
storage facility, unless YOU help us to #FreeTheArt!
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