Críticas Magazine

Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (2)

Obama's Face in the Sand
November 4, 2008

Obama-mania has spread worldwide and now the proof is in the sand. On November 3rd, the multi-culti city of Barcelona debuted an artistic symbol of change at the Forum. The piece, by the Cuban-American artist Jose Rodriguez Gerada, was christened with a title that's nothing short of poetry either. “Expectation," is a enormous sand painting of Barack Obama that was created using 650 tons of sand and a large-scale vector graphic. The tradition of sand painting stems from healing rituals used by Native Americans, Tibetan monks and the Aborigines, and is the act of pouring colored sand onto a surface with message. On his website, Rodriguez Gerada said he chose this technique as a metaphor “for the healing that needs to take place in order to improve our future and secure a safer world.”

Sand Man: Rodriguez-Gerada's art tribute to Obama in Barcelona

It scales around 30,000 square feet in size and cost around 75, 000 Euros to create--- though the artist had financial, material, and personnel backing by the Gremio de Àrids de Catalunya and from various other European companies. As ephemeral as sand can be, its creators are worried about the erosion factor due to the rainy weather Spain’s been having. But no worries, thanks to Google Earth’s groovy photographs of the art site, Obama’s mark in the sand will never fade away….

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on November 4, 2008 | Comments (2)