ILLUMINATE SF

BLISS DANCE

Marco Cochrane (2011)

Installed: April 19, 2011 - April 2015

Treasure Island: Avenue of the Palms at 5th Street

Marco Cochrane’s forty-foot tall sculpture Bliss Dance graced Treasure Island's Great Lawn for four years, during which time viewers could manipulate the sculpture’s lighting effects with an iPhone app. By day, the dancer’s stainless steal mesh “skin” shimmered in the sun, and by night, she radiated from 8:30 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. in a complex array of 1000 slowly changing LED colored lights. Her delicate, graceful form precariously balanced on one foot, adding to the astonishing impression of imminent movement and lifelike presence. The sculpture weighed 7000 pounds and was ingeniously constructed of triangulated geodesic struts. Displayed in association with Treasure Island Development Authority, Black Rock Arts Foundation, and the artist.

Artist: Marco Cochrane is an American sculptor best known for his large-scale steel sculptures of nude women. Born in Venice, Italy and raised in California in the midst of the 1960s’ political and cultural movement, he says that as a result he learned respect for oneness, balance, the sacred, and the imperative to make the world a better place. In particular, he identified with the female struggle with oppression, and he saw feminine energy and power as critical to the world’s balance. Both Bliss Dance (2011) and Truth is Beauty (2013), which rises to 55 feet, are intended as the first two sculptures of singer and dancer Deja Solis in an eventual trilogy.

Photo: David Yu