In 1965, Uruguayan artist Gonzalo Fonseca was engaged to create a number of public art sculptures around the original Plaza at Lake Anne in Reston, Virginia. Poured from concrete, the sculptures are both industrial and whimsical. They were designed to encourage human interaction and incorporate various textural elements and alluring niches and peek holes.   The Lake Anne sculptures call out for intimate interactions. The closer you look, the more small, obscure carvings and niches you discover. The hand-drawn geometric lines and ladders and carved concrete niches and stairways form a universal language. Despite the cold, tan concrete, you experience the playfulness that must have been his intention when building forms for children.

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My paintings explore these geometric play environments using muted colors and chromatic grays to signify the brick and concrete “brutalist” feel of the architectural configurations in the landscape. Using the universal symbols sculpted by Fonseca (including the sun, moon, a boat and stairways/ladders), I infused more bright prismatic color to signify the imagination of the children who are found joyfully playing in these spaces.