Mini-Workplace Artists Date
So, work has been rather all consuming for me lately in all the usual cliché manners - endless meetings, creating documents, sending them out for review revising them, sending them out for review again, revising them back the way they were, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I confess it gets to be demoralizing sometimes, but earlier this week I managed to sneak in a mini-artist date and explore some of the treasures my company has no idea are in it's possession.
Awhile back our IT department relocated to a new facility, a rather expansive building it features a rather elaborate atrium court and towering entry hall, one wall of which had what should have been, a two-story cascading waterfall fountain, surrounded by aquatic mosaics. Now dry, the mosaics still remained in place. I never really got the chance to really take a close look at these things, always running off to meetings, so never noticed the real artistry in these decorations. Then one day while cutting across the Atrium court, I was struck by a sense of familiarity seeing this "stele" placed in the center court. "That looks like an Eric Orr fountain," I thought, and in moments my thoughts were confirmed seeing a small bronze dedication plaque. Or rather they were corrected to, "that looks like a neglected Eric Orr fountain." To be sure, there was no water running down the sides forming mesmerizing patterns. Instead, just a dry phallic icon, now more roadblock than destination.
Okay, I confess a bit of aesthetic snobbery here, having had attached myself to the local arts scene through most of the 80's. I walk through our corporate offices I notice the Eric Orr painting over our CEO's office, the Laddy John Dill that dominates our main entrance. I can't help but think they must have been acquired through the Works Gallery who did brisk business at the time selling to corporations like my own. And thinking of them I can't help but think of Ken, a friend and associate there whose friendly Texas drawl grew thicker with explaining his excitement for a certain artist or work. He was the first person I really saw laid to waste by AIDS, the sores, the emaciation, the dementia, such a horrible way to die and so many people were dieing that way. We lost so many friends and feared for the survivors.
Anyway, I returned this week with my camera and started snapping pictures in the hopes I could catch these images before security stopped me, or worse, they were removed or salvaged. And so here is the Eric Orr non-functioning fountain:
And here is the larger non-functioning mosaic fountain "Underwater Landscape I & II":
The Floor Before the fountain "Many Cultures Carpet II":
Detail of the Floor Mosaic
Detail of the Fountain mosaic
Detail from the Fountain Mosaic
So, I believe this building was once the headquarters for Home Savings and Loan, an iconic Californian Bank in it's heyday, it was at the time one of greatest sponsors of California artists. Many of their bank branches sported elaborate mosaics designed by Millard Sheets. Many of these are still preserved today, though few understand their significance. having known his son, David, it's hard for me not to go off on tangents about his work, or his own collection of art I once had the pleasure of seeing at his "Barking Rocks" estate in Gualala California. These mosaics, however were done by Joyce Kozloff, who I've just started researching. Apparently her early works were attempts to blend decorative arts and pornography, that in itself will make me grin a bit more slyly as I pass these works on my way to my next meeting with IT.