Alleyways of San Francisco

 Posted by on March 20, 2018
Mar 202018
 

Jessie and Annie Streets

Sites Unseen is a fiscally-sponsored public art project of the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District (YBCBD).

They presently have three projects on the outskirts of San Francisco’s Museum District.  The first is Love Over Rules

Love Over Rules by Hank Willis Thomas

These 6 X 6 Neon letters are on the exterior wall of the Salma Family Building at 165 Jessie Street.  However, the best viewing is on Annie Street.  The light sculpture is the first permanent public artwork in the U.S. by New York-based artist Hank Willis Thomas. A tribute to the artist’s cousin, murdered in 2000, the blinking white neon installation shares his cousin’s last recorded message to Thomas.

In an interview with Artsmania  Thomas had this to say about the piece: Public space is more and more contended about what kind of objects, who we celebrate, and what we celebrate. So I decided that I wanted to make statements, and one of the statements my cousin made that had a profound effect on me was, “Love overrules.” I thought of that being read multiple ways, both as “overrules” and “over rules” and the different ways you can interpret a single statement. So the neon flicker is between saying “Love Overrules” and “Love Rules” and “Love Over Rules.” In public space, where most of it is dominated by ads and commerce, putting things out that make different kinds of statements is important.

Thomas is a member of the Public Design Commission for the City of New York. He received a BFA in Photography and Africana studies from New York University and a MFA/MA in Photography and Visual Criticism from the California College of Arts. He has also received honorary doctorates from the Maryland Institute of Art and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts. Thomas lives and works in New York City.

Love Over Rules by Hank Willis Thomas San Francisco

Photo courtesy of SiteUnSeen

error: Content is protected !!