Augmented Reality Comes To Downtown Redwood City's Art Kiosk
REDWOOD CITY, CA — Downtown Redwood City will have a taste of the Caribbean in it for the next month, courtesy of Martinique-based artist David Gumbs.
Gumbs’ piece, “Find Shade While The Sky Is Pouring Hearts,” an augmented reality immersive installation, is on display at the Redwood City Improvement Association’s Art Kiosk in Courthouse Square through Feb. 20.
The works feature half-flower and half-human chimeras that harken back to Gumbs’ home, the island of Saint-Martin. The Royal Poinciana, a flamboyant red and yellow flower that is strongly associated with the Caribbean landscape, serves as the head. Below it are a human bodies dressed in patterned hoodies, contemporary clothing that is popular among the younger generation in the Caribbean.
When viewed through the smartphone app Artivive, the 3D layers come to life through augmented reality.
“It just made perfect sense because with COVID, we all need to keep our distance and it seemed pretty clear that the technology that can allow us to appreciate even more of the piece through augmented reality,” Gumbs said in an interview with Patch this week.
The flower symbolizes resilience, strength and pride — all qualities that have been necessary to get through the pandemic, according to Gumbs. Gumbs wanted to connect the significance of the Royal Poinciana with an everyday symbol like the clothing he depicted, clothes that island residents might wear to hang out on the porch.
Gumbs aimed to depict a more “joyful experience” with the bright colors while also pointing out the complexities of living on a half-French, half-Dutch post-colonial island. Madras cloths and traditional houses appear in the works, as do geometric patterns inspired by colonial plantation tiles. The red petals symbolize blood stains that the island’s residents have suffered through, raining down hearts that purify the body, land and sea.
Gumbs has never been to Redwood City and didn’t know much about it after he was commissioned for the work, but hoped that people passing by the art kiosk would get a “sense of joyfulness in this winter season.”
“I was hoping the visual strength of the work contrasts with the other exhibitions that were there before and give the sense of the sun,” Gumbs said. “From afar, you see maybe something strange, but as you approach the figure, you are surprised by the colorfulness.”
The work is Gumbs’ second solo exhibition and second-longest running show in the United States. Whether through AR or the bright color of the art, Gumbs’ goal was for people to feel transported while looking at the piece, to “give the sensation of being teleported.”
“I wanted them to take away something a bit tropical,” Gumbs said. “Either it is a place that is familiar, or something new that you never saw before that intrigues you enough to come to a porch.”
This article originally appeared on the Redwood City-Woodside Patch
