ART AND THE PUBLIC

MAGNUM OPUSES COLLIDE

Lawrence Argeant's Venus is more San Francisco than we could ever imagine

By Katherine Cooke

It makes you think...of many things

Part I:

Venus

This morning San Francisco woke again to begin its daily grind, unaffected by its current state of despair. Another day, another dollar; another man dead with a needle in his arm and no one is left to cry. The departed man’s face is frozen, his body motionless, strewn aside, cascading down the cold marble stairs that descend from ‘C’era Una Volta’ piazza, nestled within Trinity Place in San Francisco’s ‘Mid-Market’ sector. The man’s face hangs, stuck in a state of shock. Pallid and blue in complexion, any life left in his face is now long since flush. His mouth gapes open, once gasping for air; but in this moment, no breath fills his lungs, and none comes out. Only a crispfall zephyr sweeps across his sallow face, a reminder of how callous our city has become.

All the while, city dwellers start to rise and begin another day, unfazed by the harsh world they will endure. Like a tower of ants in the morning, workers begin to pour from the Trinity Place towers, where I am both witness and herald. From this covert post I see it all; the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between. Here, in the center of this luxury, high-rise apartment ‘community’ I am the gatekeeper and guardian to this civil mess. A place where affluence meets destitution in an almost sacrilegious fashion. It’s sickening and awe-inspiring, all in one shot, like a blast of dopamine straight to the brain.

Here I stand, glimmering and massive in the wake of it all. Civil splendor in the midst of civil dreck. I absorb the most scorching of suns’ rays and the coolest of city nights, yet nothing disconcerts me more; save the ephemerality of humankind. For this is my only consumption. Thus, as consequence (and insult to injury) I am anchored here for eternity, reaching towards a heaven that will likely never be realized. My covert location, the coordinates on which my gargantuan and winding body stand on this earth, suit me ever so. Caught in this stark and empty piazza, people come and go, but somehow, I can never free my stainless soul. Tethered to a ballast chosen by Angelo himself. My existence, however daunting, was never intended to be the watcher of this cruel cache. I am breath-taking and beautiful; certainly not a cause of death, but rather an instrument facilitating its final crescendo.

Part II. 

Sculptor, Lawrence Argeant

Lawrence Argeant at the opening of  
C'era Una Volta Piazza on May 18, 2017
Photo: Drew Altizer

Looking for perfection in a world so harsh seems futile, especially when one can create it, sculpt it, and manipulate it until it is taut and erect. Such is the case of the celebrated and classically trained visionary sculptor, Lawrence Argeant, who gave us the now orphaned ‘Venus’ of the Mid-Market, Trinity Place development.

Artist, scholar, teacher, and mega-sculptor; Argeant fastened his ego with an uncommon trajectory. He was born on January 24, 1957, in Essex, England, moving to Australia in his youth where he came of age. A thoroughbred of technique, Argeant studied at the progressive Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, from which he received his BFA. Not long after, Argeant attended the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore where he earned his MFA. Argeant was certainly no slouch, coveting honorary council spots and fellowships at universities across the nation. He was unwaveringly dedicated to his craft, mentoring many young artists and sculptors as Chair of the Department of Art at the University of Denver.

In a May 2016 piece written for The Denver Post, Kyle MacMillian elucidates Argeant’s push to gain recognition, win large grants, and make grand-scale work. “But he nonetheless struggled to gain major commissions outside the state. [Sobel] believes that will change with this piece, which he called a “career-defining” work, because of its size and the extraordinary attention it has garnered.” MacMillian goes on to describe the 40 ft tall geometrically faceted, blue, bear Argeant created to peer inside the vaulted windows of Denver, Colorado’s downtown convention center. “The $424,400 piece was part of more than $2.4 million in art commissioned for the project under the city’s 1 percent-for-art ordinance.” Here, MacMillian is referring to the one percent of Colorado’s state capital construction funds which are allocated to a municipal art collection of sorts. With this contract Argeant began to gain national recognition and visibility. Shortly thereafter, Argeant landed a large contract with Bay Area based developer, Angelo Sangiacomo for an additional ‘1% for Art’ municipal contract. Only this time, it would be funded by the city of San Francisco.

Bunny Foo Foo. 2014. Polished stainless steel, 30 x 15 x 7 ft
Hall Winery. Napa Valley, California

To be a world-class sculptor in Denver was not Argeant’s endgame. He was aiming for the top; strategically aligning himself with fellow power players in philanthropy, art, and city development. His goal: to harness his newly cemented hype and set his career ablaze, locking in multimillion dollar projects back-to-back-to-back. His reputation was red-hot, gaining international recognition for civic art contracts nationwide and globally. From China to Napa Valley, he was coming to be known as a refined ‘disruptor’ of sorts, pushing grand-scale sculpture to its farthest threshold. He was at the pinnacle of his success yet still gaining in momentum. It was in this mindset he began to design the framework for Venus, his coup de grâce.

May 18th, 2017, Venus was unveiled to San Francisco council people, lawmakers, commissioners, and the art world, at the opening of ‘C’era Una Volta’ Piazza in Trinity Place. The reception was positive, moreover, it seemed as if it was just one more step in Argeant’s ascent to the top. Instead, it would serve as a kismet final ceremony of his most significant work to date. On October 4th, 2017, Lawrence Argeant passed away, exactly 140 days after the unveiling of Venus arguably his greatest life’s work, a feat of epic proportions.

Part III.

Angelo Sangiacomo, scion, developer, and art enthusiast

The Developer

In 1949 a little known Italian American developer named Angelo Sangiacomo purchased a beachside bungalow in the outer sunset and with it founded a real-estate development company that would eventually dominate the local rental market. Sangiacomo flipped his first Ocean Beach flophouse into four units that he would rent to turn-a-profit. He named his venture ‘Trinity Properties’ which, incidentally, would become the name of his own magnum opus and mega-development, Trinity Place some 72 years later.

Sangiacomo was born in 1924 and raised in San Francisco, acquiring his savvy knowledge of construction from his father who was a local contractor (Rubenstein). The consummate strategist, Sangiacomo parlayed this invaluable insight into a lifelong career of development. As his loved ones point out in his SFGate obituary, “He refused to buy property unless he could walk to it or sell any property that he had ever built.” In the end, fortifying his firm a stranglehold over the San Francisco real estate market, which has ultimately contributed to the housing crisis like a gasoline-soaked fuse.

Sangiacomo worked within the very fabric of S.F. real estate

Sangiacomo was known to be a bulldog of a businessman; snatching-up properties across San Francisco’s 7X7 square miles with fervor and an equity-thirsty panache. Staunchly anti-rent control, Sangiacomo garnered negative press at times in his career for his unwillingness to post reasonable rents (King, Nineteen years in the making,1). In the late 60s and early 70s, when San Francisco was veering to the left, Sangiacomo was stacking his assets, and making a hard right turn. Although it is important to mention that both left and right-wing party leaders had put laws into place to inhibit the development of commercial and residential properties in San Francisco during this period.

In 1977, Sangiacomo began to slowly purchase buildings along the south side of Market Street, between 7th and 8th Streets, then down and around to Mission Street. According to a phone interview with writer and Urban Design Critic John King, of The San Francisco Chronicle, Sangiacomo’s intent was to eventually buy and develop the entire block. After miles of red tape and zoning legalities, on April 9, 2011, Sangiacomo’s building proposal (designed by Miami based firm Architectonica) finally passed. This was contingent upon his inclusion of replacement units previously located within the “low-income” single-room occupancy hotel or “S.R.O.s” that would be lost in the new development. Sangiacomo’s team was able to negotiate an increase in the “overall density” in units for the property, King notes in his conversation with me.

King is an expert on the development, having written about the project since its inception. In a June 12, 2022 piece written in the San Francisco Chronicle titled, “Nineteen years in the making, this S.F. apartment complex could be Mid-Market’s last, best hope,” King clarifies the many stages of the decade-long deal:

So when Sangiacomo and his real estate firm Trinity Properties set out to replace the former motor lodge with 1,410 apartments, activists went to battle until a deal was worked out: Sangiacomo agreed that the complex would include replacements for each of the former rent-controlled units. In return, the project was allowed to grow to 1,900 units — of which 528 are either rent-controlled or below market rate.

From this deal 360 units would remain rent-controlled, while the other additional 230 units would become “B.M.I.s” or below market rate units (Buchanan). In September 2015, Trinity Properties was sued for allegedly renting these B.M.I. units out to tourists seeking short-term vacation rentals (Barmann).

In a way, Trinity Place now stands at the epicenter of a hollow Mid-Market corridor, a symbol of Sangiacomo’s flawed ideals and of quasi-unethical development choices. The first phase of this colossal development was financed (all cash) by Sangiacomo himself… and it is said to be in the ballpark of $175 million (ConnectCRE). However, when given the opportunity to give back directly to the underprivileged in his community, he turned the other cheek.

The whole of the plaza

On December 8, 2015, after almost fifty years of development in the housing market of San Francisco, Angelo Sangiacomo passed away. He was 91 years old. His passing occurred during construction of phase two of Trinity Place. Unfortunately, Sangiacomo never saw his landmark site come to fruition. His legacy, however, will be stamped on San Francisco’s skyline for generations.

Part IV.

The Observer

I crouch beside the breath-taking stainless-steel sculpture, just to capture a glimpse and refresh my mind of its design. The ‘C’era Una Volta’ piazza at Trinity Place, where Lawrence Argent’s Venus stands is just as mesmerizing as I last remembered.

The city goes quiet, and for a moment, I am transported somewhere else. The sublime beauty of Argeant’s piece and the sheer magnitude of it all is captivating. Surely, if humankind can create something so profound, immense and bold, we can also overcome the immense suffering we see every day.

The movement is amazing

Argent’s Venus stands a miraculous 92ft high. Its stainless-steel form towers over the Piazza Angelo. The statue’s organic form seems to pour upward in a forceful, fluid motion, radiating upward almost rhythmically from the sharply leveled marble piazza floor. Venus appears cresting at the crown; bold, and unaffected. It’s as if a phallic, mirrored illusion appeared from the ground. The viscous shape billows and oozes densely toward the heavens as it reveals the figure of a woman emerging from the swirling, cloud-like mass. The sun's reflection envelops the sleek chrome vessel, creating shapes within shapes, shadows within shadows. The radial yet asymmetrical balance is overwhelming as the figure and form integrate to swivel, wrap, and rise like a gleaming tornado coldly ripping through the quiet marble piazza. The modern, metallic effigy keeps one’s gaze twisting, tumultuously to reveal her bust and likeness emerge, smooth, glowing, and glossy, coming to rest below the hemisphere.

Primarily monochromatic in color theme, the focus remains on the revelation of her ethereal figure. Her form, complicated yet simple and sublime, highlights the narrative between the physical and metaphysical. The implied movement alludes to the hypothetical travel of a body through space and time.

Venus in process, though, you can see here the clash of materials

In a composed clash of metal, raw marble, aquamarine glass, and polished marble Argeant denotes earthly attributes unto the enclosure while portraying the human form in an ‘otherworldly’ fashion. He prods at celestial themes in his work throughout the piazza, which additionally showcases 16 lesser sculptures that include an inverted bust carving of Sangiacomo’s likeness smiling broadly, accompanied by his wife. Argeant’s pieces remain interconnected to natural materials used throughout the Piazza and building itself; a hybridization of semi-abstract and neoclassical themes. The two artists, in this case, developer and sculptor, work in unison to create a textured wholeness throughout their composition which attempts to capture the life of a city. In this way, they build a disjointed harmony which bounces from object-to-object and again from building façade-to-building façade.

This energy, in turn, encircles the piazza like a cacophonous melody, conjuring the precipice of an event which remains outside of this framework- but is yet to come. The atrium of gathered structures inversely, governs the sprouted amorphous figure swirling in pure, polished, metallic form. Dimension and depth are initiated, which pulls the attention of the eye upwards, as the lines of each building slice diagonally through the crisp, pale-blue sky with unrelenting conviction. Amid a sensory induced euphoria, the passing of a honking horn breaks focus, allowing the gaze to land, once again on Venus. Subtle, yet emblematic contrast is created atop the steal surface, where rippling reflections of sky dance in variation, deconstructing her luminosity in an almost spiritual way. The sequential rotations of the form over her axis suggest celestial revolutions, or alternate routes of passage, however Venus is moving at high velocity and with centrifugal force, yet somehow frozen in time.

The Inspiration

Lawrence Argent’s inspiration however is derived from the work of an ancient master sculptor, Alexandros of Antioch Greece. The sculptor is said to have created Aphrodite in 150 BC, later becoming known as the Venus de Milo with provenance hailing from the Island of Melos (Cyclades, Greece). It is now on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The resemblance is striking. Andrew Brinklow, of Curbed SF describes Argeant’s sculpture amid it’s unveiling at the official piazza opening ceremony, in May of 2017. “The towering nine-story contemporary riff on the Venus de Milo became the centerpiece of the Trinity Place public plaza, christened Piazza Angelo.” According to Brinklow, Bernardo Fort-Brescia, a contributing architect on the Trinity Place project, likened the surrounding buildings to “a cubist painting and told Curbed SF that the interior perspective of the plaza gave viewers better perspective on the development’s ‘cubist geometry’.”

Part V.

The Fiend

The homeless and addict scene across the street from Trinity

I had it all. Now, it all passes me by on a daily basis. Like the people I know, or used to know, that is. They encounter me on the street and don’t even recognize me or pretend not to. This happens all the time. Sometimes I feel as if I am just a silhouette; the shadow of the person I used to be, stuck in the flicker of a reel playing-out and projected on a screen in an old, rank, and stale theater. But I don’t give a fuck, as long as I’m high anyways. Tonight, I am dope sick and so hungry for a shot I’d do anything.

My affliction leads me to her every day, the enormous gatekeeper in the center of ‘C’era Una Volta’ Plaza in the center of Trinity Place. I meet my dope dealer beneath her writhing figure, quick and fast before security notices I’ve come to cop again. But I’m still clean enough to almost fit in, and its safe here. I wonder why I feel so comforted in her presence and simultaneously judged. My dealer will be here soon though, undoubtedly bringing my shakes and dope sick tremors to a euphoric finale. I’m remaining optimistic, as the time ticks by, tick, tick, tick…each second carving a deeper thirst into my veins. It’s getting hot now, and cold again, in a synchronistic rhythm that prompts sweat beads to form at the brim of my forehead. I’m so nauseous, they won’t mind if I sit for a second on the cold marble floor.

The Anchor Store of Trinity sets up the barriers

Ah, the cool Carrera chills my feverish skin long enough to gaze upon her, and ‘Venus’ is mesmerizing. Now she’s the only thing stopping me from crawling out of my skin and letting-out a hair-raising cry. I need a shot, man. Just one shot, where is he?! My eyes lock hard on her figure, just long enough to stop from vomiting and steady myself. The eccentricity of her gaze holds me tight, and standing in her aura calms me, as if I have already made it to the other side.

There is nowhere to go but up from here, as I stretch my arms up towards her, she reaches down and ushers me toward her glowing steal bosom. Civility does not fail me here, as I accept her gracious embrace. Her smile is distorted yet glistens in the darkness of night as moonlight bounces off her form. She scoops me into her swirling breast. And now her comfort truly overwhelms me; with all that is her gatekeeping grandeur. Her walls come down, as the brilliance and humanality within her collide to reveal the truth of it all. And somehow, I understand this glittering, chaotic mess of a life, just long enough anyway, for one secondary moment of relief.

Part VI.

The Dweller

In the mid-aughts I came to San Francisco with a laptop strapped to my back and a carry-on suitcase, barely full. I was looking for a piece of California pie, golden and rich, with an aroma so fragrant I had smelled its readiness from half-way across the country. So, I brought my small tech firm here, snagged some investors and a few ideas, then went looking for an IPO. The fruits of my labor paid-off in full and when I look around now, I realize that I am one of the fortunate ones. The struggle seems a bit hazy nowadays, gazing out into a sculpture-filled piazza, but the grit, well, that I can still taste. Even as I sit here in my luxe apartment on Market Street, with a five-million-dollar, digitally-rendered sculpture gazing back at me.

Yet, within this glass tower my complacency consumes me at times. Like a butterfly frozen inside a bell jar; I too, am organic and impermanent, albeit human, yet I have the luxury to remain protected from harm. Somewhat powerless to the plight of others, I can’t help but feel guilty and at other times, completely detached from the pain existing around me, a product of the saturation of this systemic problem. Ignored and unaddressed, it propels itself from street corner to street corner, sidewinding and slithering like snake.

A new home

The four buildings which formulate Trinity Place surround the entire city block, leaving a courtyard, just for Venus. On the adjacent side of these buildings however, the streets are lined shoulder-to-shoulder with drug-dealers, drug-users, homeless and people desperately struggling with mental health. Many of whom have become disabled and/or abused and huddle for hours or even days in the same location. Unaware of what time or day it is. And I dejectedly wonder, does this make the roughest stretches a bit more bearable? The juxtaposition between wealth, technology and the impoverished is unabashed. This devastating exhibit of poverty and struggle. Rather ironically however, Venus is positioned smack dab in the center of the disjointed wreckage that surrounds my home. Look at the way she stands there, the epitome of beautiful, public art. And then just beyond her, this torrid and awful scene unfolds. Which makes me wonder… Is this what future looks like?

Nonetheless, my mainstay distraction while at home in my glass cage is the graceful beauty that climbs outside my window pain. Her gaze indecipherable, her splendor undeniable. Face-to-face with her prodding and unavoidable glances reminds me of the guilt I feel. My apathy is pacified however, from within the constraints of her form I see, not a real expression, but rather a mirrored reflection of my own peering back and I am blissfully consumed.

©Katherine Cooke and the CCA Arts Review