Seyed Alavi is a Bay Area-based artist who has worked on some amazing installations and public art projects. Above is his Flying Carpet for the Sacramento International Airport, a carpet printed with an aerial photograph showing approximately 50 miles around the airport.
The above images are from a 1992 public art project on which Alavi collaborated with high school students, entitled Words by Roads. I remember seeing these when I lived in Oakland. These are eRACISM, INFORM(N)ATION, and Invisible Colors. After all these years, it’s great to finally see so much of this artist’s work and learn more about him in one place.
Department of Everyday Visualingual 
Thanks for the link to the site, it is a great resource. His other work with communities is excellent.
I have seen the Skyway piece before, but looking at it this time it really struck me how disorienting that might be to walk over the same terrain you just flew over. Dizzying.
Who says the public doesn’t appreciate art? I think they will, if it resonates with them as Alavi’s work does.
I think Alavi’s public art projects demonstrate that an artist can create compelling, thought-provoking, yet accessible work for the public realm, which doesn’t always happen.
Every six months or more I see an article from some city that talks about how public funds are being spent on art. The question always raised, is art in the public’s interest?
Sometimes there is a valid disconnect between the artist and the community, but many do not see the value of art in their environment. It doesn’t resonate with them as anything but wasted tax dollars.
It will be really interesting to see how Cincinnati deals with creating a capital public art program and whether the general public can be persuaded to view art as a critical part healthy places.
Yeah, the value of art is self-evident to me, but certainly not to everyone, not when there’s money at stake that could be spent in other ways. Partly for that reason, and partly because I’m a designer and appreciate useful things, I wish more opportunities were taken to commission park benches, light posts, bike racks, etc. The Artworks mural in Walnut Hills is a kind of treasure hunt of visual bits that represent the community, and the one in Over-the-Rhine shows Central Parkway’s past as a canal. Beautiful and instructional!
Also, check out these whimsical poetry benches in Bethesda, MD. It’s like the Poetry in Motion program on NYC subways.
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