Hinge Park, situated just west of Vancouver’s Olympic Village, boasts unobstructed views of False Creek, and on the other side, the condo towers that rise to form an integral part of Vancouver’s downtown skyline. The park now also boasts an original artwork, a colourful, vibrant sculptural work by world-renowned artist Jonathan Borofsky. The work is titled Human Structures (64 Figures Connected), and Borofsky affirms its grand theme: “The figures are locked together, a kind of symbol of humanity’s connectedness to each other. I want these connections to be positive, to affirm that each person in the world wants to be at peace with themselves, and be connected to others.” He peers into the sun-drenched vista, the park, the view, and his artwork, and says, “I am simply saying it is amazing to be alive, and to be connected.”
The Vancouver Biennale invited Borofsky, who is known for his iconic and historically significant Molecule Man, set on the old boundary between East and West Berlin, the People Tower in Beijing, and Hammering Man in Seoul. “In some sense, this new work comes out of the first major work I did, Hammering Man. That one symbolizes human work as way of building our lives. My goal back then was to find places in the world to place pieces that would elaborate on that, somehow. I like to take things to their biggest definitions, it is a kind of spiritual approach, you could say. The symbolic work leads into psychological questions, and that in turn leads into philosophical elements.” He pauses, smiles, and says, “All you can do is put out your best, positive energy. That’s what my work is. Not that I am always happy, by any means, but what I want people to explore isn’t my depressive states, but rather the idea that human enterprise, human interconnectedness, is a positive thing.”
And now, anyone can experience this major artwork for themselves, simply by strolling out of the Olympic Village and wandering over the the park, where the 64 figures, all bolted into an ensemble, bear witness to Borofsky’s grand theme. It is art that speaks volumes.
