Gonzalo Fonseca 1922-1997, Uruguayan, sculptor, ceramist, muralist, designer
Gonzalo studied architecture at the Universidad de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay. He attended the lectures of Joaquin Torres-Garcia and later became a founding member of workshop El Taller Torres-Garcia. Torres-Garcia’s universalist Constructivist theories led Fonseca to experiment with a diverse array of nonacademic materials, including clay, cement, bricks, and wood. He was inspired by prehispanic cultures.
In 1957, Fonseca moved to New York. From 1964 on, he devoted himself exclusively to sculpture, undertaking important public commissions.
Fonseca spent a year in Reston, VA to design, carve and build sculptures integrated into the plaza and pathway of this community. (Dagen 259) Reston, founded in 1961, was the first of America’s postwar new towns, and a response to the suburban criticism (Dagen 2). Robert E. Simon, the developer, hired Conklin Rossant Architects as master planners to incorporate higher density housing to conserve open space, as well as mixed use areas for industry, business, recreation, education, and housing. (wikipedia)
Fonseca created sculptures in the Village Plaza, one between the high-rise and garden apartement and one underneath the pedestrian underpass.
In 1968, Matthias Goeritz invited Fonseca to create a conical concrete tower – Wind tower – for the Route of Friendship at the XIX Olympic Games in Mexico City. (Ramirez, p. 565)
Public works for playgrounds
– 1969: Monument in Wood (lost), M. Paul Friedberg Assoc., Bronx, New York, East 138th street between Alexander and Willis in the Bronx.
– 1965 3 sculptures: The Building (wood), The Sun Boat (cement), Underpass, Wittlessey, Conklin and Rossant Architects, Reston VA.
source:
Ramírez, Mari C., and Héctor Olea: Inverted Utopias. New Haven: Yale University press, 2004
https://www.ceciliadetorres.com/artists/focus/gonzalo_fonseca
https://www.revistascisan.unam.mx/Voices/pdfs/8208.pdf
images from: Cecila De Torres, New York and Richard Dattner: design for play, 1969
Reston:
James Rossant
Wikipedia Reston
The Building, 1964-65
Concrete (15 pieces)
Part of a garden made in concrete and wood for the architects Wittlessey, Conklin and Rossant in Reston, Virginia
Photography: Bill Maris
The Sunboat, 1964-65
Concrete
Part of a garden made in concrete and wood for the architects Wittlessey, Conklin and Rossant in Reston, Virginia
Photography: Bill Maris
posted: Mai 5, 2014
Gonzalo Fonseca, The Sunbboat, 1964-65, Reston VA
Gonzalo Fonseca, The Sunboat, 1964-65, Reston VA
Gonzalo Fonseca, The sunboat, detail
Fonseca in: Richard Dattner, , design for play, p.129