Universal Man Inset

Denver, CO - 1998

In general, I prefer to do public art projects for government entities and non-profits, not corporations, but I was approached to do a commission for a large Denver based corporation.

What they wanted was for me to create a larger than life replication of da Vinci’s Universal Man drawing for their new headquarters. The figure inscribed in a circle was to be set in the floor at the epicenter of a circular atrium, itself at the heart of a larger building complex. The navel of the figure would mark the exact center of the complex. Da Vinci’s drawing was 13 ½” by 10”. My replication was to be ten times that size. The work was created in cast aluminum, and the line work of the drawing was simulated using black epoxy worked into grooves in the casting. The whole work was set in a terrazzo design in the atrium floor. 

The project provoked a humorous conflict with the corporation that commissioned the work. They claimed that their corporate tenants in the building complained about the full frontal nudity of the da Vinci figure. The nude figure did have a small barely recognizable squiggle between his legs. In a contentious meeting with the client, a dozen men in suits, I decided to have a little fun and call the offending member his “weenie”. Ultimately I refused to compromise the integrity of my work and would not change the imagery and they hired another artist to come in and “correct” the piece will a poorly designed compass rose covering his member.