Artist: Tobias Rehberger
Title: eloquent south pointe park pier gate, 2014
Medium: Aluminum, steel, marine grade paint
Location: South Pointe Park, 1 Washington Avenue
Tobias Rehberger is a resident of Frankfurt, Germany and an internationally recognized artist whose career began in 1990 and has had over 100 solo art shows in major museums and galleries throughout the world. Rehberger’s Artist Statement states, “My concept for the South Pointe Park Pier gate is to make it into a ‘speech bubble’, which triggers the design of the gate itself. The ‘speech bubble’ is a visual element that has repeatedly appeared in several of my works in order to make inanimate objects speak and have almost become a hallmark for my work. In this case, it is used to have the pier introduce itself to its visitors.”
“When the gate is open, the ‘speech bubble’ playfully sit’s on top of the archway of the gate, which is painted in the same bright colors that have developed as my signature palette and will allow the “obstinate lighthouse” to establish a visual dialog with the pier and thereby linking the two projects. The graphic pattern of the gate symbolize sound waves spreading from the ‘speech bubble’ and can also be read as a reference not only to optical art in general but, are references to previous projects of mine such as my installation the “Cafeteria” of the Venice Biennale, 2009, and the cafeteria for Turku (European Cultural Capital), Finland, 2010. Additionally, the pattern is also an abstraction of the way the wooden boards are laid on the pier.”
