Sculptor of giant Embarcadero statue wants to change your perspective

An artist aiming to empower women has installed a nearly 50-foot tall female nude statue between the Ferry Building and Market Street at Embarcadero Plaza. The City authorized the display of the intricate, metal artwork for six months, but it could last a year.

Artist Marco Cochrane said he was nervous going into Tuesday about how smoothly the installation would go, but the assembly of the heavy pieces behind screened fencing went rapidly — by noon, her incomplete form already towered over the site.

An official unveiling and party are scheduled for Thursday for the temporary installation, titled “R-Evolution.” But because of its monumental size — 45 feet tall, with a 2-foot-tall base — it was quicky visible facing Market Street with the Ferry Building as a backdrop. First the two 5,000-pound legs emerged, then the torso, the head and so on.

The giant pieces have to fit together exactly, Cochrane said.

“There’s no luck in the engineering,” said Cochrane, a 62-year-old, self-taught artist from Petaluma who has made multiple huge sculptures of nude women. “It’s all real.”

Cochrane said the statues are meant to empower women and show them freely expressing themselves.

R-Evolution sculpture by artist Marco Cochrane in the process of being erected in front of the Ferry Building in San Francisco on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Craig Lee/The Examiner

The enormous artwork immediately began turning heads and inducing passersby to take pictures.

Alejandro Martinez, a lifelong resident of The City, was in the area to meet a friend for lunch at nearby Waterbar when he first saw the sculpture without its head. He came back later when the top piece was attached and stopped to gaze.

“It represents strength to me, and I love that it’s situated at the end of Market Street,” Martinez said. “I love public art. I think it’s an important thing.”

Nearby, Jaynie Davis — who was visiting from Yuba City with a friend — crossed over from north of the Ferry Building to get a better view of the partially finished sculpture.

“Her face is very beautiful, and I like her legs,” Davis said. “They’re very defined, very pretty. I’d love to see her hands.”

The public celebration of the completed sculpture, which is to be surrounded by vendors who typically sell their wares at the site, is scheduled to run Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. It will feature a light show and live DJ performances, a night art market, a full bar and food. The Sijbrandij Foundation is funding the installation, which has been managed by the company Building 180.

R-Evolution is part of a triptych of three similar sculptures, collectively called “The Bliss Project” — another is in Las Vegas, the third in San Leandro. A separate giant reclining woman by Cochrane can also be spotted on scaffolding on 14th Street near South Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

Cochrane built “R-Evolution” on Treasure Island in a now-destroyed former airplane hangar where many artists once worked, and it has been displayed in Petaluma, Las Vegas and Miami Beach, Fla. City officials and others have said they hope it will draw visitors downtown and stimulate the local economy.

Artist Marco Cochrane with the head of his R-Evolution sculpture in Petaluma on Sunday, April 6, 2025.

Craig Lee/The Examiner

Before being trucked to San Francisco on Monday, the statue underwent four months of restorative work at Cochrane’s shop in Petaluma.

There, Cochrane has a 600-square-foot studio inside an old silo in a feed processing plant where he was invited by a fellow artist known in part for large flaming metal sculptures displayed at Burning Man, the weeklong outdoor art festival held annually in Nevada.

Cochrane’s small indoor studio contained artwork under construction as well as elements of past projects. A large metal tool chest was crammed full of items Cochrane might need for the installation in San Francisco.

“I go to Burning Man,” he said over the weekend. “So, yeah, there’s this vibe of, ‘bring everything you need,’ because you can’t go to the store there.”

Previously, Cochrane spent six years in a much bigger space near the Petaluma River, but he said the rent proved burdensome, and last summer he moved to the new site.

Before that, Cochrane worked on Treasure Island for a decade in Building 180, a hangar that has since been torn down where hundreds of artists — many of them Burning Man enthusiasts — once worked out of some 40 studios.

The large, multi-purpose industrial yard in Petaluma, situated next to railroad tracks, contains an old feed mill. It is shared by a trucking and hay sales operation and is populated by various vehicles, including big-rig trucks, a broken tow truck and a weathered old crane. One open shipping container was bursting with molds and other tools of Cochrane’s work.

R-Evolution sculpture by artist Marco Cochrane (left) loading his sculpture on a flatbed truck with Natale Ramatici (right) in Petaluma on Sunday, April 6, 2025 for transporting to San Francisco. 

Craig Lee/The Examiner

Cochrane had brought “R-Evolution” back from Miami Beach, where it was displayed in a mall for 10 months.

For the refurbishing of “R-Evolution,” Cochrane’s assistant Cheryl Humbert and another worker laboriously scrubbed the sculpture’s parts with electric brushes dipped in acid to get rid of rust.