Art Commuion.

April 7, 2018.

As I was visiting City College of San Francisco for documentation and research of the Diego Rivera Mural The Marriage of the Artistic Expression of the North and of the South on this Continent is when I passed a sculpture by contemporary Artist Aristides Demetrios. Mr. Aristides Demetrios is a Harvard graduate and served 3 years in the Navy as an officer. His work is reduced down to geometric shapes and resemble figures. His father George Demetrios was a student of Antoine Bourdelle who studied under Auguste Rodin. Aristides Demetrios has works all over the world. Including public artwork in Roseville, California and Sacramento, California.

The sculpture titled Sentinel was done in 1973 for the Arts Commission in San Francisco and is on permanent loan to City College of San Francisco. The work is of hollow bronze and appears to have a spray paint patina. While I was taking pictures of the sculpture. A facility service man yelled at me in a semi-serious tone- Hey why are taking pictures of that thing!? I said for my blog as an educational project... He continued- but why? How is that Art? We exchanged our passionate point of views. After 20 minutes of conversation, he invited me over to hug the sculpture. He said- we need to feel it to get an idea of what is going on. At that time the man who stood about 6 feet 2 inches and weighed about 280 pounds placed his large hands on and reached into the sculpture. The dull thud from the hollow bronze echoed inside. I placed my hands on top of the piece as well, as if it was some holy communion between to strangers engaged in a piece of Art.We stood there like this for about 2 minutes talking about the piece.

After. We laughed, talked politics, family dynamics and Art.

Aristides Demetrios sculpture- Sentinal served a specific purpose at that point. As to unite two individuals together and talk about Art. As if we are the watchmen of the campus grounds exchanging thoughts and feelings of life and Art. It was the artist work and that of a worker at the school who provoked meaningful conversation, and he probably did not know this at the time. Truly an experience that I will never forget. And is something I am usually accustomed to by now from visiting San Francisco many times. People have opinions. We share them and is usually because I am around Art or culture when I visit that city.

Photos by Moises Castillo.

Sentinel- Side View.

Sentinel Side view.

Sentinel front view.

Artist's signature.