Colossal Olmec Head Finds New Life Beside City College STEAM Building

 

By John R. Adkins

jradproduction@gmail.com

 

After traveling 2,500 miles up from Veracruz, Mexico, El Rey still had one last journey to make. Only this time, the move was across the street.

On Friday, Feb. 21, the 9-foot-high, 14-ton replica of the ancient Olmec head was relocated to a small concrete pad to the left of the new STEAM building. There, it is featured more prominently for the campus community and can be easily admired by the passing traffic on Frida Kahlo Way.

Its new home was also selected due to its close proximity to where the Diego Rivera mural will be relocated.

The giant Olmec head, “El Rey,” was carved by renowned Mexican sculptor Maestro Ignacio Perez Solano. It is a reproduction of the original piece unearthed in San Lorenzo, Mexico, also known as San Lorenzo #1. Archeologists have speculated that the ancient Olmec head represents one of their rulers, hence the name El Rey, which translates to “the King.”

For the last 20 years, El Rey has lived on a concrete collar in a courtyard outside the old Diego Rivera Theatre, between the Creative Arts Building and Judson Avenue.

 

The Great Migration

 

It was 6 a.m. on Valentine’s Day when Atthowe Fine Art Services – a company that works for the San Francisco Arts Commission – arrived on City College’s Ocean campus to begin wrapping the stone sculpture in protective pads. Riggers from Atthowe would proceed to spend hours preparing El Rey to be harnessed into a crane and lifted onto a flatbed truck.

Atthowe’s project manager, David Martin, said he had been thinking about relocating the Olmec head for the last two years, waiting for the right time to do so.

 

 

“A lot of this comes down to our experience, but stone has its own formal properties, so we work with a lot of engineers to collect all that information before we move something like this,” Martin said.

Jasmine Kaw, project manager in the Facilities Department, confirmed that the Olmec head would remain under wraps for the next week while strapped to the truck in the City College Police Department parking lot. There, it would at least have some security.

The following Tuesday, Atthowe returned to bore a five-inch hole in the bottom of the head to fit a post that could then pin the sculpture onto its new pedestal beside the STEAM building.

“A lot of things could go wrong in an operation like this. We thought we could be here all night, but it actually went really smoothly,” said Benaiah Seilen, a former City College student and member of the rigging crew for Atthowe.

One week later, on Feb. 21, Atthowe completed the move with a drive across the street and another hoist with the crane before leaving it for conservators to ensure the integrity of the art was maintained throughout the move.

Atthowe Fine Art Services, an employee-owned co-op, worked in conjunction with Sheedy Crane Company to relocate and install El Rey in 2004. Atthowe was also responsible for relocating the Diego Rivera Mural and has played an integral part in the Bay Area fine arts community since the 1970s.

Head Rigger Esteban Granados said that great care was taken to prevent impressions in the sculpture caused by the weight of the stone rubbing against the harness.

“This is what we’ve been doing since forever. I mean, these guys could move the Bay Bridge, but when it comes to art, it’s important that everyone understands the touch is different, the approach, the experience, the knowledge, all of that,” Granados said.

 

 

A Gift for City College

 

The piece was given to the college in 2004 by then-Veracruz Governor Miguel Alemán Velazco. It was unveiled at City College on October 3, 2004, and both “il Maestro” Solano and Governor Velazco attended the event.

After El Rey was settled into its new home, Solan sharpened his chisels and etched his name and the dedication to City College into the backside of the Mexican basalt.

Harry S. Parker III, former director of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, traveled to Veracruz, Mexico in 2004 with the desire to borrow an original Olmec head to be displayed somewhere in the city.

“The new De Young museum was going to be his swan song,” explained Will Maynez, who had personally picked up Solano from the airport back in ‘04. “The Governor of Veracruz offered Parker a replica of one of their Olmec heads, who then extended the offer to City College.” Maynez is a Diego Rivera mural historian and taught physics at City College for 33 years. 

The Olmecs were an ancient civilization that occupied Mexico thousands of years ago. Throughout the twentieth century, a series of colossal heads with distinct facial features were excavated from Mexico, and they remain the most prominent archeological evidence of the Olmecs.

City College Police Officer Don Quintana was there to witness when El Rey was first unveiled on City College grounds.

“I’ve read about the Olmec culture, a lot of them were carpenters, but to actually have an Olmec head here at City College, I thought wow, that’s pretty incredible,” Quintana said.