Cupid's Span
San Francisco, Caifornia
Background History
Cupid's Span is located in San Francisco, California. Cupid's Span in a sculpture that was commissioned by D&DF Foundation. The Sculpture was created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. The sculpture was installed in November of 2002. In 2000 the final design for Ricon Park in San Francisco where Cupid's Span is located was approved. Then the install of the sculpture began to take place.
Artist Statement
The artists' thought process was to build a sculpture that would fit with a park by the San Francisco Bay. They wanted to show the iconic picture of Cupid's bow and arrow. They first had the bow and arrow facing the sky but a challenge they faced was that it was unstable and too stiff. The artists said that the sculpture is metamorphic and that the work looks like a ship and a smaller version of a suspension bridge. The work also works as a frame for the background of the city outline is another thing the artists said about their sculpture. They wanted the sculpture to communicate that the bow and arrow into the ground shows that the ground is fertile since it is Cupid's love arrow. Since the bow is slanted it also shows that there kind of an acceleration to the sculpture said Coosje van Bruggen.
My Opinion
I like this sculpture because it has to do with bows and arrows. The sculpture uses form and space well because you can walk around the whole sculpture. It also uses pace well because you see a different angle of the sculpture from every different spot you look at it from. I like this piece because it kind of outlines the city in the background but it also outlines the bridge from the other side of the work. I think that the sculpture works good with the environment it was placed in.