I recently got invited for the “2018 Hearts in SF” Public Art Program. Everyone knows the giant hearts at the city’s core in Union Square. The sculptures can be spotted throughout the city and beyond. Mine is a mini-version of theses hearts, but it’s bigger on the inside than on the outside. For the last couple of weeks, I carried my heart wide open on the streets of San Francisco and spread my love all around town – and then I lost it!
My piece “Monarch Heart”, from my continuing mural series of Street Art Monarch Butterflies, features them mirrored in a kaleidoscope design on a blue sky background. I often use the monarch butterfly metaphor to express my personal transformation as well as a powerful reminder, how important immigrants have been to the achievements of the United States. San Francisco is the epitome of the multicultural, progressive and open-minded attitude of our country. It represents the diversity of our community. The city encourages people to “do their own thing” – it gave freedom and hope to me, as to many other immigrants.
In the last weeks, people could see me working on the Monarch Heart at my art studio in the Sunset District. Afterwards my heart traveled through San Francisco. You could spot it at the Cliff House in Ocean Beach, at the De Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, at Union Square, at Grant Street in Chinatown, at the nightclub and red light district on Broadway, at Saint Peter and Paul Church in Washington Square, at the Bay Bridge Boardwalk Pier and on several privately-owned public spaces.
But this is not the end of its journey: My heartwork will officially be revealed in December 2017 and featured at the Heroes & Hearts luncheon at AT&T Park on Thursday, February 15, 2018. It will be displayed at Wilkes Bashford in December, and at Macy’s Union Square in January. In February 2018, the hearts will be auctioned on eBay. The annual heart auction will benefit life-enhancing programs and initiatives at Zuckerberg San Francisco General. Coming from Germany, which has an excellent health care system and free treatment, I know how important quality health care for all is and my heart will help improve that. The “Hearts in San Francisco” artworks and events, have raised more than $17 million for the SF General Hospital Foundation since the series’ inception in 2004. My heart’s permanent location won’t be known until after the auction. Wherever it will go… I’m happy, that I lost my heart in San Francisco, because that gave me the chance to find my soul.