Giant Obelisk of Bikes

Kinda rad! “The Cyclisk” is the name of this five-story, Egyptian-style obelisk in Santa Rosa, Calif. It is a dramatic work of public art made from recycled bicycles that was (somewhat ironically) paid for by Nissan. Artists Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector built the sculpture with bike parts as well as steel and concrete for reinforcement. It was unveiled in August along Santa Rosa Avenue.

The project’s budget of $37,000 was spent on design and engineering costs and for the collecting and disassembling of bike parts from various sources. Grieve and Spector chose not to take an artist’s fee in order to create the necessary scale required for such a work.

This was the artist’s proposal for the project: “Made of recycled bicycle gears, rims, frames and hoops, [Cyclisk] will be a series of intersecting rhythms — a visual metaphor for the human experience — technology and the humanities — history and the future — individual and collective. Evoking a ‘world of possibilities,’ it will be a work communicating to all walks of life — all ages, relevant for years to come….”

Definitely. A neat work of art and a creative effort to bring cycling, at least abstractly, into the public consciousness in one more way. More info on “The Cyclisk” is on the city of Santa Rosa’s website here.

—Stephen Regenold