Can a monumental sculpture exist in only two-and-a-half dimensions? That question might have occurred to more than a few pedestrians passing by Jaume Plensa’s Rui Rui, whose mirage-like contours have been prompting doubletakes since its November installation in Harrison Garden, between the Penn Museum and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Rising 23 feet from the ground, the 19,608-pound cast-iron bust was modeled after the Spanish sculptor’s daughter-in-law. But there’s a trompe l’oeil element to its awe-inspiring scale that tugs viewers to regard it from many angles, registering the uncanny shifts in their own perception of depth and mass. It is a gift from Glenn Fuhrman W’87 WG’88 and Amanda Fuhrman C’95, longstanding patrons of the arts who also brought Simone Leigh’s monumental sculpture Brick House to Penn’s campus on extended loan in 2020 [“Arts, Jan|Feb 2021]. Both sculptures debuted in Venice Biennales, and Rui Rui is the first public work by Plensa in Philadelphia.
“When we first saw Rui Rui in Venice, we were immediately impressed by how the sculpture embodied both gravity and transcendence,” said Amanda Fuhrman. “We are so excited to share this great work with the Penn students and the city of Philadelphia.” —TP
