Red Mountain Branch Library
The City
of Mesa’s newest public art installation was
dedicated November 9, 2004, and is now in
place at the Red Mountain Branch Library.
Suspended Gallery, a six-piece
installation by Erik Gonzales, will greet
visitors as they enter Mesa’s recently
expanded branch library. The works were
commissioned by the City of Mesa Public Art
Program, and were completed in October 2004.
 The artwork consists of six double-sided
art panels, made of Lexan and suspended by
aircraft cable, that draw their inspiration
from a variety of sources, including the
nearby Red Mountain, local plant and animals
life, and information found within the
library’s collection. Some of the pieces
incorporate actual quotes from books and
numbers from the Dewey Decimal System.
Download a full-color
fact sheet about the installation.
 Erik Gonzales (pictured left,
between Mesa Vice Mayor Claudia Walters and
Council Member Rex Griswold) is a Phoenix
artist who has exhibited his work at the Scottsdale
Museum of Contemporary Art, the Dolby Chadwick
Gallery in San Francisco, and the Momus Gallery in
Atlanta. He is a past recipient of a Visual Arts
Fellowship from the Arizona Commission on the Arts
and the Regents Fine Arts Scholarship from Arizona
State University.
The Library also features another
piece from the City of Mesa Public Art Collection:
an untitled painting by Tempe artist Max Hammond.
This 8' x 13' oil painting hangs above the Library's
central reference desk, and was dedicated in 2003.
Mr. Hammond's work was chosen by a
panel including Library personnel and Board members,
the Library's architect, and representatives from
the community. Mr. Hammond has an MFA in painting
from Arizona State University and a BFA from the
University of Utah in drawing and painting. His
other public art projects include an interior mural
for the Urban Design Studio in Scottsdale,
commissioned through the Scottsdale Public Art
Program.
"My current paintings are based on
the planar (in terms of geometry) landscapes of the
west, primarily Arizona, but also Utah, where I
trained in landscape painting. My paintings and
drawings weave in and out of
abstraction....sometimes almost recognizable, then
blurring to pure color, form and texture," said Mr.
Hammond.
The Red Mountain Branch Library
is located at 635 N. Power Road, one half-mile north
of University Drive.
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