Sandra Cinto
The Invisible Telescope, 2018

LOCATION:
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus
Collaboration Terrace, Kate Tiedemann College of Business at Lynn Pippenger Hall

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Inspired by the career of philanthropist Kate Tiedemann, an entrepreneur of instruments to improve vision, The Invisible Telescope provides a space or lens for viewers to contemplate new perspectives and dreams for the future. Mounted on two exterior walls of the terrace, Cinto’s site-specific, immersive installation responds to the building’s architectural design, and its function as an educational institution. The central circle or portal to an open sky, enveloped by its various shades of blue celestial fields, suggests a place of endless possibilities, and a universe to be explored through the freedom that knowledge and education provide.

Throughout her career, Sandra Cinto has developed a rich vocabulary of symbols and lines to create lyrical landscapes and narratives that hover between fantasy and reality. Using drawing as her point of departure, the artist renders intricate and mesmerizing environments of turbulent seascapes, violent rainstorms, and celestial skies that frequently engage with the surrounding architecture to a disorienting effect, creating the illusion of a weightless, spiraling universe. Evoking stories of human hardship and redemption, these fantastical landscapes serve as a metaphor for the human odyssey, while also pushing the limits and possibilities of drawing.

ARTIST'S BIO:

Born in 1968 in Santo Andre, Brazil, Cinto currently lives and works in São Paulo. Cinto studied art at the Faculdades Integradas Teresa D’Ávila, Santo André, Brazil, and later received fellowships from Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2000–01) and Civitella Ranieri Foundation (2005). Cinto’s work is well represented in public and private collections and has been exhibited at museums and institutions worldwide.

Commissioned 2018 with funds provided by Florida’s Art in State Buildings Program (F.S. 255.043)