Public
Art - Table
of Contents
"Go!"
Cobblestone Lofts, 95 Perry St.,
Buffalo, NY
By Augustina Droze and Bruce Adams
July
14, 2023 Photos Tall building in the background: Seneca One Building at far right: Rand Building  Seneca One |
July 2015 Photos  Top: "The fifth story show an excited-looking woman with her mouth open, and the word 'Go!' "... Below the woman: "Boat masts" ... Below the boat masts: "Green-colored cylinder-shaped machinery" ... Right side: "Red silos glistening from the water's reflection"  Lower left panel: The woman's hand?  "The fifth story show an excited-looking woman with her mouth open, and the word 'Go!' "  Famous 1932 Russian Constructivist poster in which a woman exhorts workers to unite.  "Boat masts" ... "Green-colored cylinder-shaped machinery"  "Green-colored cylinder-shaped machinery" .... "Boat masts"  "Green-colored cylinder-shaped machinery"  "Red silos glistening from the water's reflection"  Artists' names |
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Excerpts
Mural Captures Essence of Cobblestone District The Pop- and Bauhaus-influenced mural, called "Go!,"was designed by Augustina Droze and Bruce Adams. The mural, Buffalo's newest public art, is located on a six-story building at 95 Perry St., at the corner of Mississippi Street, near Helium Comedy Club. “We viewed this as an opportunity to do something grand and highly visible on the biggest canvas I'll likely ever have,"said Adams, a figurative painter who teamed up with Droze once before to do a mural on Elmwood Avenue, near Bidwell Parkway. “I love it. It's simple but eye-catching, and I think it's iconic for the city,"said Droze, one of the area's most accomplished muralists. “I think this mural captures the essence of that part of the city.” Droze also has created murals behind McKinley High School, on Grant Street, inside Bethune Lofts and on a building in Clarence Hollow. Arts Services Initiative initially issued a request for proposals for the mural, and assembled a panel of local figures in the arts to review submissions. The prospectus called for the mural to relate to the waterfront and the Cobblestone District. Droze and Adams met these specifications, in part, through representations of large, green-colored cylinder-shaped machinery, boat masts and red silos glistening from the water's reflection. The two panels that reach the building's fifth story show an excited-looking woman with her mouth open, and the word “Go!"appearing in the next panel. The image was inspired by a famous 1932 Russian Constructivist poster in which a woman exhorts workers to unite. Adams said it was re-created using a local woman “with the idea of someone shouting something positive from the top of the building. There was a positivity to the whole idea that I think represents what everyone thinks Buffalo is going through." The artist Piet Mondrian, known in the early 20th century for working with big and small shapes using primary colors, was another influence. “We basically used his color palette of primary red, blue and yellow, but we added green partly because we wanted to acknowledge the new greenspaces down on the waterfront,"Adams said, adding that Mondrian probably wouldn't have approved because “he hated green.” The building and the design each presented significant challenges. Preparing the brick building – one of the keys to ensuring the long life of a mural – required a week of caulking and working primer into the cracks. Another challenge was maintaining the continuity of straight lines and arches as the images morphed from one panel to another. “It turned out to be a difficult challenge continuing the arches fluidly from segment to segment,"Adams said. “To get very long, straight lines was also not easy to do, because the width of the lift we were on was roughly the width of one of those squares. If you're off an inch, by the time you reach the end it's 10 inches.” The mural is the third work of public art in the district. Hi-Temp Fabrication, which operates an art gallery on one floor at 79 Perry St., has a mural on its south wall by Carly Jean Parrish. Savarino Properies also commissioned Griffis Studios to make metal benches and wayfarer signage nearby. Adams said he appreciated the commitment of developer Samuel Savarino and his daughter Julia Spitz to public art in the Cobblestone District. “They were amazingly supportive and encouraging,"he said. “They put this out there because they wanted to do something that was good for the community. They have a belief that these small gestures, collectively, improve a neighborhood, and they get the fact that artists and art play an important part in that.” Savarino, who owns the Perry Street building with Chris Jacobs, said he is proud of the end result. “It adds to the vibrancy and beauty of our neighborhood," he said. |
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Cobblestone Lofts: Coolest Development Downtown? By George Johnson Buffalo Spree, November 11, 2005 (online October 2020) Buffalo developers Sam Savarino of Savarino Construction and Chris Jacobs of Avalon Development are involved in what could be the coolest development project downtown. Itis a $15 million project that will recast the vacant Benlin Distribution Services complex (five buildings along Mississippi Street between Perry and South Park Avenue) into a spacious first-of-its-kind luxury commercial and residential project adjacent to the Erie Canal Harbor. Itis a phased project that will begin with the conversion of a five-story warehouse building at Mississippi and Perry into a 36 unit luxury apartment building. The first floor of the structure will be a restaurant, and private garages for residents will replace the one-story building directly behind it on Mississippi. Lighting is planned on the facade of the building which will be visible from the Niagara Thruway. |
