The central entrance at ground level is a grand opportunity to express Austin's unique spirit in carved stone, sandblasted glass, and forged iron.
The work would be visible from above (enplaning level) thru the long light well suggesting the sublime effect of a revealed archeological wonder overlaid with modern construction. The proposed concept is a follows...
The Creation of Texas- An Apocalyptic Genesis or Texogenesis, if you will...
The Creation of Texas concept is a vast geocultural Big Bang frozen in native Austin limestone with features drawn from natural, historical, and modern Texan mythology.
The tangled action takes place on a field of prickly pears. Major elements include a great rippling longhorn bull snorting steam; a convulsively snapping alligator; a vaquero glued to a soaring stallion; and a giant rattler weaving thru the melee like a Laocoon serpent. Great roils of dust and shafts of light give a complex overall structure. In the cyclonic turmoil, with lesser prominence, are recognizable elements of Texas's urban skylines, plus a toppling gushing oil derrick, a communications tower danceing with a tornado....Funky little critters race from the whirlwind toward the viewer, notably horny toads, armadillos, and fire ants.
The composition and iconography is greatly evolved from two previous public commissions, Cyclone and FireBall, where regional mythological and natural elements also clash in mid air. Cyclone's composition is "rotary", like viewing a spinning clothes dryer. Fireball's composition is radial, exploding from a central point. The Creation of Texas integrates both compositional structures into a finely filamented yet massive layout. The effect resembles richly detailed colliding galaxies seen from the Hubble Space Telescope, but with a gothic stonecutter's eye.
Direct inspiration includes the extravagant hunting scenes by Rubens where hippos, lions, crocodiles, hunters, and guides clash in airborne fury. The late works by Turner provide a lofty goal for the luminous qualities of the composition. Goya's Gargantuas, bullfights, and night mares also come to mind. Precolumbian ghosts haunt the design, as do faint echoes of Rodin's Gates of Hell.
Nevertheless the exaggerated qualities of the piece conspire toward humor and the overall impression is that of energetic homegrown high spirits.
Low relief vs. in-the-round stone and iron work-
New Airport project management expressed a concern that use of limestone reliefs as part of the fabric of the architecture may be somehow problematic and that stand alone, in-the-round proposals should also be provided to jurors. All proposed work is therefore based on both options, with scope of work adjusted so that the same overall budgets apply. Proposal renderings give a sense of how each option would look.
On one hand relief carving would be part of the terminal's architectural fabric. On the other hand there is a magnificent limestone pillar 23 feet long at the Armadillo Quarry. It would be a regular marvel standing in a light well and deeply carved with the Creation's lyric structures.
The use of stone and iron as proposed is extremely low maintenance, and can even be neglected.
We propose that the stonework and ironwork be allowed to weather naturally. While this can look bad on unrelieved plain surfaces, on sculpture the streaking and patination look noble and form an important contribution to the artists' esthetic.
Air pollution is not a concern given that many of the greatest monuments endure in much worse conditions. Stone work need only be lightly pressure hosed every few years for dust. The rusted iron is massive enough to resist for centuries, but can be very occasionally lightly oiled to deepen its patination and arrest superficial corrosion. UT's maintenance engineer can provide assurances that "limestone ornament is not a maintenance issue at UT, despite the vast quantities present".
There has been talk of a possible collaboration between Santos/Perez and the other Site F finalists, John Chistensen and Steve Murphy. Some specific ideas emerged from a handful of meetings and conversations. John and Steve produce spare unitary objects which seem at odds with the profuse detail of our normal work, Therefore we would propose to work on a rich natural background environment of "roughback" quarry slabs and xeriscaping upon which to showcase the sculptures. Another approach is to meld the artists' work more directly by overlapping elements of our respective creative language. The proposal renderings contain detail suggestive of these ideas.
The specific "Heavy Option" proposal also includes a wider team of skilled professionals, including iron master Nick Brumder, and stone masters Holly Young, and Joseph and Jeep Kincannon with whom the artists are currently collaborating on large scale work for the Zilker Botanical Gardens. Their extreme technical mastery well compliments our deeply ingrained local character and experience.
Ponciano Morales III, AIA, and Terry Ortiz, PE, have worked with the artists in the past and will provide specialized architectural and engineering services as needed.
Creation of Texas II- "Cyclone"
Creation of Texas III- "Fireball"
Creation of Texas IV- "Big Rock/Robotic Tower"
Creation of Texas V- New Airport Commission
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