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Earth Angel by FriendsWithYou

April 15, 2023 – April 2024 Jepson Center
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It’s hard to miss the large, shiny sculpture soaring over your head when you enter the Jepson Center’s atrium. Titled Earth Angel, the reflective butterfly is a site-specific installation by the collaborative Los Angeles-based duo FriendsWithYou, aka artists Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III. Their overarching goal is to connect us to each other and ourselves, spreading friendship and building community around the world. Earth Angel is a new character in their longform conceptual project to unite humanity by renaming our planet Ocean. It represents a visiting creature from beyond the heavens to Ocean who is the embodiment of vibrational harmony. The mirror-like surface symbolizes the universal totality present in everything and invites us to see ourselves in this mythological character—distorted, transformed, and anew.

About the Artists:

Working collectively since 2002, FriendsWithYou creates modern modes of spirituality to promote a positive impact on our world—reaching beyond the contemporary art world into popular culture. Their artwork has been materialized as experiences, immersive installations, sculptures, paintings, animation, live performances, virtual reality, digital and generative art, augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI), with a major focus on intellectual property (IP) creation and development. They have created the hit animation series True and the Rainbow Kingdom on Netflix, were featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2018,and have exhibited their artworks in museums and public venues worldwide.

Arturo Sandoval III and Samuel Borkson; photo credit: Ira Chernova.

Earth Angel is commissioned by Telfair Museums.

Telfair Museums