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A Resolution of the City Commission approving the concept for a work of public art by Jean-Michel Othoniel 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: 6 to 0, and the Cultural Development Board approval/denial vote: 5 to 0).
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Agave Plaza Trustee Living (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 Agave development team were presented with over fifty artists of international acclaim and invited Jean-Michel Othoniel to propose a sculptural fountain piece for a dedicated space on The Plaza project site. Mr. Othoniel proposed a piece linking the water element and the sea using his signature element, the bead. The mirrored beads are intended to joyfully play with the water as enigmatic and shimmering lively sea creatures. The elements themselves are a series of eight interlacing strings made of large stainless steel beads that draw a perpetual movement of water extending into a shimmering torrent to present an infinity of reflections creating complex and imaginary knots. The calligraphic gestures also reflect the artist’s love for writing and signs.
Following an initial review by the Arts Advisory Panel, Mr. Othoniel further developed the work with unique elements, realigned the elements for additional space from the edge, and revised the column cladding to a mirrored finish to further enhance the artwork.
Jean-Michel Othoniel lives and works in Paris, France. He offers a fresh and contemporary voice, enriching public environments such as civic spaces and pedestrian streetscapes in France and all over the world. Othoniel’s predilection for materials with reversible and often reflective properties has been the hallmark of his practice since the early 1990s and relates to the deeply equivocal nature of his art. He creates art that is monumental yet delicate, baroque yet minimal, poetic, and contemplative. Jean-Michel Othoniel’s holistic sensibility further compares to Feng Shui or the art of harmonizing people with their environment, in his case allowing viewers to inhabit his world through reflection and motion.
Othoniel is represented by Perrotin in New York and Paris. In addition to major solo exhibitions throughout the world, his artwork can be found in the collections of The Museum Modern of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York, Centre Pompidou and at Versailles in France, the Hara Museum and Mori Art Museum in Japan, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and more.
The concept proposal is attached as Exhibit A to the proposed Resolution.
The cost of the proposed art piece and installation is estimated to be $848,500 (eight hundred forty-eight thousand, five hundred 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 received approval of additional artworks and will be proposing restoration of the historic building on site to make up the difference. 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 August 26, 2020 and September 1, 2020.
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.