Bubble Forest Public Sculpture

Imagine standing in an urban plaza at dusk, the sky overhead deepening to rich blue as daylight fades, the air cooling with evening's arrival, and before you rises an extraordinary sculptural installation consisting of two main groupings of tall slender poles, each grouping containing roughly six to eight vertical metal stems ranging from perhaps twelve to twenty feet in height, their bases anchored in circular ground lights that cast colored illumination upward across the concrete pavement beneath your feet. Scanning from left to right across this scene, the left grouping glows with cool luminous spheres atop metallic stems, these orbs shining in cyan blue and aquamarine green, colors like tropical ocean shallows or winter ice catching moonlight, each sphere perhaps two to three feet in diameter, internally illuminated with intricate concentric circular patterns visible through translucent shells, the light diffusing outward creating soft glowing halos in the surrounding air. The stems supporting these cool-toned spheres appear metallic silver or pale steel, their surfaces smooth and reflective, catching ambient light from the architectural facade behind, these vertical elements rising straight and true like impossibly tall flower stems, their bases marked by circular uplights glowing with corresponding cyan tones that paint pools of blue-green radiance on the pavement. Moving your attention rightward across the composition, the right grouping presents a warmer chromatic family, spheres glowing in magenta pink, rose, and violet purple, colors suggesting sunset afterglow or luminous tropical flowers, these warm spheres arranged at varying heights creating rhythmic visual music, some positioned higher reaching nearly twenty feet, others hovering at perhaps twelve-foot elevation, each displaying the same intricate internal structure of concentric linear patterns that give the appearance of delicate ribbing like jellyfish bells or seed pod cross-sections. The stems in this warm cluster show pewter or darker metallic tones, still reflective yet reading slightly warmer than their cool counterparts, their bases similarly marked by circular ground lights now casting magenta and violet washes across the concrete surface. Between and beyond these luminous clusters, the architectural backdrop provides context, a modern building facade of horizontal bands, dark structural elements alternating with floor-to-ceiling glass panels through which warm interior lighting glows, creating a rhythm of solid and transparent that echoes the vertical rhythm of the installation stems. The building appears to be perhaps three or four stories, its modern vocabulary of glass and metal harmonizing with the contemporary character of the sculpture. In the foreground, the concrete plaza surface appears smooth and level, marked by subtle linear patterns and the circular uplights, while small dark circular elements near the sculpture bases suggest structural anchoring points or drainage features. Human figures provide crucial scale reference, small silhouetted forms visible in the middle distance walking through the plaza, their presence revealing that each luminous sphere measures roughly human torso size, while the tallest stems rise perhaps three to four times human height. The atmosphere reads as cool evening air, that transitional moment between day and night when artificial lights begin their dominance, the sky still holding enough ambient light to define forms against it yet dark enough that illuminated elements glow with full chromatic intensity. The entire scene suggests smooth metallic coolness in the stems, the warmth of interior-lit architectural spaces, the crisp evening air of urban twilight, and the magical quality of light transforming ordinary materials into extraordinary presence, each sphere appearing simultaneously solid as sculpture yet ethereal as pure luminosity, their internal patterns creating visual texture that rewards close examination while their overall glow registers from considerable distance, transforming this utilitarian plaza into enchanted space where technology serves wonder and evening transit becomes aesthetic pilgrimage through gardens that bloom with light rather than chlorophyll.

"Bubble Forest" is a public sculpture made of acid resistant stainless steel. The material has the property of reflecting both natural and artificial light. During the night, it is illuminated with programmable RGB LED lamps. It was created as a reflection on the ability of plants to produce oxygen. The title forest consists of 18 steel stems/trunks ending with crowns in the form of spherical constructions representing a single air bubble. “Bubble Forest” refers to the terrestrial flora as well as to that known from the bottom of lakes, seas and oceans.