In the middle of the great lawn at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens, the artist Saype danced and bobbed as he employed an industrial sprayer to paint large swaths of color on the freshly mowed grass.
The French-Swiss artist has done this very dance on some of the world’s most prestigious lawns, creating images of linking arms to form a symbolic chain around the globe. He’s painted similar works in front of the pyramids in Cairo, the Eiffel Tower, a barge in Venice, Italy, and on a lawn in Minneapolis. He began the project in 2019 and calls it Beyond Walls.
“I drew a picture that art can bring people together beyond differences, beyond language barriers,” Saype said on Monday during a break in his painting. “I love this idea that it can help people to create bridges.”
Saype worked as a nurse before he discovered his love for art. On the job he experienced life and death and it shook something loose, leaving him looking for a way to express grief, love, and connection. He started painting on canvas and then walls, and then began experimenting with his grassy frescoes.
“For me it was beautiful,” said Saype, who lives in Switzerland. “Because I’ve got the biggest studio in the world, nature.”
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The French-Swiss artist Saype painted an image of locking arms on the lawn of Yerba Buena Gardens as part of a global project he calls Beyond Walls. The painting will remain around 10 days as it disintegrates.
Standing in the middle of the Yerba Buena lawn, Saype consulted renderings of the artwork on a grid to figure out where to spray his paint. The lawn was filled with small pegs marking the grid. He said his paint is an eco-friendly mix of chalk and wood charcoal, which one of his two crew members mixes on site.
Wearing headphones playing rap music, Saype jerked his head in rhythm as he tugged the sprayer’s hose and skipped in and out of the piece spraying paint. Nearby, the MLK Fountain roared against a backdrop of SFMOMA and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
“I will link my artwork with the history of the place,” he said, looking around the canopy of tall buildings.
Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay AreaJoe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area
The French-Swiss artist Saype paints an image of locking arms on the lawn of Yerba Buena Gardens as part of a global project he calls Beyond Walls.
Saype began the project by painting the image of locked arms in front of the Eiffel Tower. In Egypt, he battled winds to paint the arms on drifting sands in front of the pyramids. In Venice, he painted on a barge, which was then towed into the Grand Canal, shutting down traffic on the busy watery highway for an hour.
At San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens, Saype began painting Monday morning and had already wrapped up by Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, the artist held an opening ceremony with visitors linking arms to mimic the artwork and create a human chain.
The fence protecting the artwork came down and the artist invited people to view and even walk on his layered work of black and gray, creating the sense of dimension.
“I love that moment because for me then the artwork doesn’t belong to me anymore but to the people,” he said.
Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay AreaJoe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area
The French-Swiss artist Saype paints an image of locking arms on the lawn of Yerba Buena Gardens as part of a global project he calls Beyond Walls.
The artwork’s lifespan is fleeting, wearing away within 10 days. But it will live on in drone photos and images taken from the upper levels of the Metreon. And, ultimately, Saype hopes it will live on in minds.
“I hope that the memories of the artwork and the image will go far beyond the artwork itself,” he said before heading back to the painting.