Title
A Resolution of the Cultural Affairs Board recommending approval of the concept for a work of public art titled “Mean Average” by Tony Cragg in conjunction with The Plaza Coral Gables development project at 2901 Ponce De Leon Boulevard in fulfillment of the Art in Public Places requirement for public art in private development. (unanimously recommended by the Arts Advisory Panel approval/denial vote: 4 to 0, and the Cultural Development Board approval/denial vote: 6 to 0).
Body
Agave Plaza Trustee (the “Developer”) is constructing a mixed-use project at 2901 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, The Plaza (the “Project”). The Developer has chosen the option of petitioning for a waiver of the Art in Public Places Fee requirement by acquiring and installing artwork within the project as specified in the Zoning Code, Article 3, Division 21.
The Developer reviewed over 50 (fifty) artists with international acclaim. After consulting with Bill Brady and deliberating as a Board, the Developer viewed similar work by the artist at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas and confirmed their selection of artist Tony Cragg (the “Artist”).
Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool, England, and has lived and worked in Wuppertal, Germany, since 1977. As one of the world’s most distinguished contemporary sculptors, Tony Cragg continues to amplify and redefine the sculptural medium through his thought-provoking work. Throughout his career, he has drawn on both the natural world and industrial systems to create new forms that develop and add to the definition of sculpture.
Cragg is the recipient of numerous awards including the Barnett Newman Foundation Award in 2016; the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, (CBE) in 2016, the Rheinischer Kulturpreis, Sparkassen Kulturstiftung, Rhineland in 2013; the Cologne Fine Art Award in 2012; the prestigious Praemium Imperiale Award, Tokyo in 2007; he represented Britain at the 43rd Venice Biennale in 1988, and the same year was awarded the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery, London. He served as Director of the Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf, after having been a Professor there since 1988.
The Developer is proposing acquisition and installation of the sculpture titled Mean Average. The sculpture will serve as a landmark for The Plaza Coral Gables and further define the area as one of cultural significance. Tony Cragg’s Mean Average will be located in a high visibility location and lend itself as a cultural landmark of importance. This sculpture will greet you as you enter from the Ponce de Leon entrance of The Plaza development. The sculpture will be the first introduction to the well thought out design of The Plaza Coral Gables and further define the area as a place of relaxation, beauty, and a sense of contemplation.
The meaning of Cragg’s sculpture lies in the celebration of materials, but its significance lies in the way it leads viewers to reflect on themes of form and material, changing their awareness in such a way that they absorb the issues of form and material into their thinking and feeling, retaining them and therefore looking at the world and its materials different, perceiving their surroundings in a different way. Cragg is very poetic in his conceptual practice merging materials into unseen shapes that are familiar to all.
Mean Average is a cast bronze piece created in 2013 and in inches, is 224 h x 94 w x 100 d. The concept proposal is attached as Exhibit A.
The cost of the proposed art piece and installation is estimated to be $1,238,149 (one million, two hundred thirty-eight, one hundred forty-nine dollars) which is less than the required 1% of the Project’s total art in public places fee estimate of $4,100,000 (four million, one hundred thousand dollars). The Developer has expressed the intent to submit additional proposed artworks and restoration of the historical building on site to make up the difference in cost. Should this not occur, the difference will be issued as a check for deposit into the Art Acquisition Fund.
The Arts Advisory Panel and the Cultural Development Board voted unanimously to recommend the artwork at their respective meetings on July 17, 2019 and September 17, 2019.
The Developer is required to provide for the perpetual maintenance of the artwork, which will be the sole responsibility of the Developer, in accordance with a restrictive covenant entered into with the City of Coral Gables and following the Art in Public Places: Funding, Goals, and Implementation Guidelines.