The Challenge

In 2017, I was challenged with the task of finding a series of seven large-scale public art pieces to create fun and friendly street experience along six blocks of a major road adjacent to downtown Boston. The two-lane road serves as one of the only access points between downtown and Seaport, the neighborhood it is in. It had just been redesigned and rebuilt to better accommodate vehicular and foot traffic, and was in great need of an improved environment for pedestrians.

THE outcome

In 2018, Air, Sea and Land, a vibrant kaleidoscope of seven large-scale sculptures designed specifically for the neighborhood was brought to Boston from Spain. Air, Sea and Land is the largest public art undertaken by world-renowned Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel. Curated by creative producer Justkids, the work’s 8-to-12-foot sculptures are placed at deliberate intervals on the road’s landscaped medians, creating a public art corridor. These multi-colored, monumental pieces create an entirely-new neighborhood experience, which is furthered by the presentation of Okuda as the Feature Artist at Boston’s HUBWeek 2018.

Often identified as Pop Surrealism, Okuda’s works carry a clear essence of street art. His unique iconographic language of multicolored geometric forms and patterns in the streets, railroads, and repurposed buildings around the globe have made him one of the world’s most recognizable street artists of today. The installation invites imagination as it explores some of Okuda’s favored themes—the tale of life and coexistence and the mythological edge where the animal kingdom meets with the human world. 

“Art must be present in public spaces constantly and my mission is to transform these spaces in a way that further enhances the passerby’s experience. I aim at creating vibrant places that are filled with color and positivity, helping and hoping to change the lives of people. I want people to stop looking at the pavement and start looking up and around,” said Okuda San Miguel.