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Description:
Two
primary influences have fostered the concept for the second of three
phases of the Emerald Design Center. The purpose of the three phases
is to provide commercial space for those businesses that are engaged
in some aspect of home furnishing. This may include such things as
furniture, art for the walls, carpet, tile, wall coverings and the
like. This form of commerce is the primary influence. The
streetscape of Emerald Drive is enhanced with the view of an
artist’s garden wherein a positive/negative steel plate image of a
painter with easel can be seen from the street. This element
directly relates to a courtyard gallery of illuminated display cases
in rusted steel for the display of framed works of various painters
as selected by the project ownership. One of the display cases is
punctuated with an abstract steel paintbrush that is engaged with
the side of the frame. This abstraction is further enhanced with a
splattering of numerous colors of acid-based concrete stains. As the
visitor moves into the project one discovers the on-going activities
of a furniture makers and a slate tile installer at numerous
locations along the pedestrian routes. The furniture makers and
tile installer are rusted steel plate figures, eight-feet in height,
in both positive and negative images, wielding a large hammer and
appearing to attach a cap piece to a bench and sawing a chair back
of an over-height chair. The tile installer piece will be enhanced
with a complementary over-scaled steel trowel against a slate veneer
wall component on one of the buildings.
Funding:
This project is funded by the individual developer as a requirement
of Tempe's Art in Private Development Ordinance.
Artist
biography:
Brant has more than 35 years experience in a variety of projects and
media throughout the western United States. David was formally
educated in landscape architecture and trained in a variety of
artistic arenas. For 20 years prior to the formation of the company,
IDEA, he held responsible positions with design firms throughout
Phoenix and Southern California, and was a founding partner in a
major southwest landscape architecture firm. Brant is responsible
for all aspects of IDEA’s projects, utilizing his award-winning
experience in project theming and story rendition through landscape
architecture, urban design, architecture, public art and graphic
design.
Artist
statement:
Despite the continuous change in his artistic style, one common
thread unites each project he undertakes. No matter how small or
large the piece, it must not only “fit” into its environment, but
also abide by the rules of simplicity, wherein each element serves a
specific purpose. Be it sculpture, painting, reprographic or
photographic art, or a piece of furniture, no line therein exists in
vain. Moreover, the piece must contribute to the environment in
which it lives, both by borrowing elements from its surroundings to
create cohesion and by reflecting a component of the “story” of the
space to synthesize its purpose with its environs. His palette,
therefore, exists of those materials that are appropriate to the
surrounding environment, and is, thus, ever changing. “The art is
the place and the place is the art,” he said.
Tempe's Art in Private Development program is managed by city
of Tempe Cultural Services staff
with input from the Tempe Municipal Arts Commission, a 15-member,
mayor-appointed advisory board. |
