Corpus
-ON DISPLAY NOW-
Artist: Michael Christian
Location: Port of San Francisco at Heron's Head Park
Installation Date: October 2025
Partners: San Francisco Port, Sijbrandij Foundation, Building 180
Image is rendering and subject to change
Corpus rises like a form emerging from the sea, an exploration of balance, weight, and the meeting of organic gesture with industrial steel. Shaped through an intuitive, improvisational process, the work reflects the human drive to find order within shifting currents. Its scale and presence recall both the fragility of the body and the endurance of material.
The title, meaning “body,” speaks to multiple layers—the human figure, the body of community, and the body of experience. Corpus is not bound to a single reading; it exists as an open vessel for encounter, where each viewer’s imagination completes the work.
Forged from salvaged and raw steel, Corpus carries within it the labor of making and the mystery of emergence—what can be discovered when imagination flows beyond known limits, like tides shaping an unseen shore.
About the Artist
Michael Christian was born in Dallas, TX, where he spent his childhood. Christian pursued his BFA at the University of Texas at Austin before an extensive apprenticeship for late American sculptor, Luis Jimenez. As he set out to create his own large scale sculptures, Christian moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1995. Now, Christian’s large-scale steel creations have homes in city centers, private collections, and at events in North America, Europe, and Australia. His playful and interactive sculptures, inspired by organic forms and patterns in nature, are a mainstay at art and music festivals across the country. In addition to his sculpture, Christian continues to exhibit his drawings and paintings, as they play an integral part of his creative process.
“I’m inspired by the genius of nature and build things that make me smile. I attempt to use the simplest language and smallest words possible. Life is big and complex enough as it is. I make things and do not spend much time talking about or explaining them.” — Michael Christian