Sony Pictures Entertainment announced in May its plans to erect a 94-foot tall, 188-foot wide steel rainbow sculpture just inside the gates of its Culver City studios.
Multimedia artist Tony Tasset is teaming up with Sony Picture’s leadership team for the $1.6 million project, which the studio and creator say is meant to symbolically connect the past with the present.
"[The] rainbow [will provide] a bridge both physically — arching across a section of the lot — and symbolically through its connection to specific films like `The Wizard of Oz,' shot on the lot, and to light itself,” said Tasset in a press statement.
"We wanted something that referenced not only the studio's history but also the cultural commodity that we have here in Culver City," added Keith Weaver, senior VP of worldwide government affairs for Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Well, that … and the fact that the project satifies the requirements of the Culver City municipal code, too. City law states that any new construction costing over $500,000, such as Sony’s two new office buildings and parking structure, which it built in 2009, must also come with a public art display that costs at least 1 percent of what the overall construction budget.
The project, which will no doubt delight “friends of Dorothy” excited to enjoy the steel and aluminum creation when it is installed at the lot early next year.
Tasset, whose work includes the Paul Bunyan statue at Governors State University and the giant “Eye” at Pritzker park, both in Chicago, is best known for the enormity of his work.
The “Rainbow” sculpture will space across Sony studios’ Main Street and Madison Avenue entrance.
"A lot of people have smiled at the notion of a rainbow that is visible and iconic,” Weaver said. "Whether you're five years old or 50 years old, everyone loves a rainbow."
