19-Foot ‘Inventions’ Sculpture Unveiled in Fountain Valley
San Pedro artist Michael Davis says he thought a lot about patients’ peace of mind when he designed the permanent sculpture unveiled here Wednesday at the corporate headquarters and medical complex of FHP Health Care Inc., a health-maintenance organization.
Commissioned to create “Inventions and Discoveries” for FHP after winning a sculpture competition last year, Davis fashioned steel, bronze, copper and gold leaf into a 19-foot metal, conical tower.
Placed at the entrance to a hospital, it supports familiar items related to science: a sun dial, a double helix, planetlike orbs and a golden, sunlike globe among them.
“I wanted to present a piece of sculpture that would make patients feel somewhat at home with science, at home with the kind of mystery that happens behind the doors (of the hospital),” Davis said before the unveiling ceremony.
“I have a great deal of anxiety when I go to see doctors. Anything that would ease that anxiety for me is beneficial.”
Davis, whose other permanent public artworks include a piece embedded in the facade of the Laguna Art Museum, was among 65 artists in the FHP competition, open to any artist who lived or worked in Orange County from 1968 to 1988. He received $35,000 for the commission.
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