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The cyclist takes shape in the open space between the pipes.

Public art / 21

Anthropocene

A cyclist revealed through 177 steel pipes. Artistic design by Jonathon Brearley and Aaron Whelton; fabrication by Western Iron Works.

Portland State University · Portland, Oregon
Artistic concept: Jonathon Brearley & Aaron Whelton Fabrication: Western Iron Works
The project
Artistic concept
Jonathon Brearley & Aaron Whelton
Year
2019
Material
Mild steel
Fabrication
Western Iron Works

The artistic concept

Oregon cycling and the bicycle wheel

A rider and bicycle emerge from a grid of steel pipes, then dissolve as your viewpoint changes.

Jonathon Brearley and Aaron Whelton’s design honors Oregon’s 1971 Bike Bill, the campaign for cleaner air and the cycling advocacy of PSU professor Sam Oakland. It stands beside the Millar Library bicycle garage at Portland State University.

The work was unveiled in 2019 as part of The Art of Loving Oregon, a program celebrating the Oregon Environmental Council’s 50th anniversary.

Seen from the end, the image gives way to the pipe array.
Different pipe lengths change the view as you move around the sculpture.

Western Iron Works / Fabrication

Building the pipe array

We fabricated Anthropocene, working from the artistic design of Jonathon Brearley and Aaron Whelton.

The sculpture combines 177 steel pipes in two diameters with waterjet-cut steel plate supports. The pipe lengths and the gaps between them form the cyclist’s image.

Material
Mild steel
Overall dimensions
78″ high × 114″ wide × 21″ deep
The reverse view reveals the plate supports behind the pipes.

Design developed with PSU architecture students Griffin Lutz, Kip Olkowski, Molly Jacobs and Kagan Reardon.

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