South Palm Beach Today

After his successes at California’s Coachella Festival and Abu Dhabi’s MOTN Festival, Los Angeles based Artist Andrew Kovacs returns to Boynton Beach to unveil his concrete 35 foot long “Big Bench” sculpture on Monday, March 20 (12:00 pm) at the Oakwood Square shopping center (320 N. Congress Ave.). 

The “Big Bench” continues Kovac’s exploration of making spaces with colorful sculptures frequently inspired by oversized plastic toys. The interior provides a multi-level seating experience. The purple and pink chevron pattern on the exterior calls attention to the sculpture and protects the green space that completes the exterior renovations of 1980s Oakwood Square by EDENS, a national retail real estate owner, operator and developer. 

EDENS strives to incorporate the arts into its retail developments. In Boynton Beach, EDENS previously commissioned a sculpture by Mark Fuller at Sunshine Square. The artwork at both retail developments were a collaboration with the City’s Art in Public Places program, which has resulted in nearly one hundred public artworks installed throughout the City since 2007.

“Public art activates landscapes in unique ways that encourage people to authentically connect,” says Nicole Shiman, Senior Vice-President and Regional Lead for EDENS. “An important part of our mission is to collaborate with organizations like Boynton Arts on neighborhood enrichment projects. We’re very excited to watch Andrew’s project come to life.”
Kovacs is a University of Southern California architecture professor who has achieved great success as a public artist. Coachella featured a small forest of giant cacti. In Abu Dhabi's festival, large yellow fiberglass balloons and toy-like houses tumble into an archway. His architectural models have shown at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. The “Big Bench” is his first artwork in Florida. 

Original source can be found here