Thu, Apr 8
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Reception for Jesse Amado Commission

Type:
–
Date:
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Time:
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Location:
San Antonio Central Library

Description

San Antonio, March 9 , 2010. — Days, a meditative new art installation by contemporary artist Jesse Amado, will be dedicated in the lobby of San Antonio’s Central Library at 6 p.m. April 8, 2010. Commissioned by the Linda Pace Foundation, the public artwork commemorates the life of Linda Pace, an artist, collector and philanthropist, who founded Artpace San Antonio, an international laboratory for the creation and advancement of contemporary art. Days marks what would have been Linda Pace’s 65th birthday and celebrates the 15th anniversary of Artpace, located near the central library at 445 N. Main. The artwork will be owned by the San Antonio Library Foundation.
A prismatic grid of 22,722 tear-shaped chandelier crystals, the sculpture will hang inside the windows of the entrance lobby. Each crystal represents a single day of the life of Linda Pace, who was born on April 17, 1945 and died on July 2, 2007. In six colors and three different sizes, the crystals are both subtle and exuberant: their straightforward composition charts the days as their lively spectrum surrounds and welcomes viewers. Amado has realized a work that is deeply personal yet generously public.
“This placement within the window will allow an exterior view of the work as well as an interior one and will serve as a metaphor for the outer and inner being of sources – the internal and external, the physical and metaphysical, the body and the spirit,” Amado said.
Amado, who divides his time between San Antonio and New York, was one of three residents who inaugurated Artpace’s residency program in 1995. Fifteen years later, the Linda Pace Foundation is honored to underwrite this major conceptually driven sculpture. Amado created Days in San Antonio, working in the Foundation’s facilities with a dedicated team of artist assistants and Foundation staff.
“The Foundation is delighted to provide such an exquisite, vibrant work as a gift to the San Antonio Library Foundation and all who live and visit San Antonio,” said Jan Jarboe Russell, trustee and interim director of the Linda Pace Foundation. “Linda believed in investing in human creativity. This work is such an investment. We hope it inspires others to live each day creatively.”
Guillermo Nicholas, former chairman of the San Antonio Library foundation, said, “It has been my goal to bring world class artwork to the library and adding Jesse Amado to works by Fernando Botero and Dale Chihuly is an honor. The fact that this work celebrates my friend Linda Pace’s life makes it even more special.”
The Linda Pace Foundation is committed to the charitable giving vision of Linda Pace. The Foundation commissions and acquires works of contemporary art, publicly exhibits Pace’s collection, manages CHRISpark, and helps support Artpace. In addition to this commission by Amado, in 2010 the Foundation made two new acquisitions: Cornelia Parker’s sculpture Heart of Darkness and Robyn O’Neil’s large-scale drawing, “Staring into blankness, they fell in order to begin.” Artpace, an independent public institution, serves as a cornerstone of contemporary art in San Antonio and internationally through its artist residencies, exhibitions, and education programs.

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