PUBLIC ART / THE ART OF FOUR / 2023

San Antonio Airport
Bench Commission

The Unseen Artists Bench Project
San Antonio International Airport · San Antonio, Texas

Jocelyn Van Taylor’s airport bench painted in pink, orange and blue with expressive black and white linework — 2023 airport bench commission · Image supplied by Jocelyn Van Studio.

ARTIST: Jocelyn Van
YEAR / DISCIPLINE: 2023 · Hand-painted public-art bench
PROJECT: The Unseen Artists Bench Project
LOCATION: Baggage claim · San Antonio International Airport

Historical artist credit: Jocelyn Van Taylor. The contemporary reports linked below list “Jocelyn van Taylor.” Jocelyn now works professionally as JOCELYN VAN. Collective: The Art of Four (Art of 4).

THE PROJECT

For the 2023 project, Jocelyn transformed a wooden pallet bench into a functional artwork. Bold pink, orange and blue meet expressive linework, braided forms and desert imagery across the seat and back.

The Unseen Artists Bench Project brought hand-painted benches by local Black artists into the airport’s baggage claim area for Black History Month.

COLLABORATION

The benches were built by woodworker Darryl Dunn in partnership with Maria Williams of In the Eye of the Beholder Art Gallery & Studio. WOAI’s report documents Dunn’s account of curating the participating artists with Williams.

The project formed part of Centro San Antonio’s Art Everywhere Initiative. The airport presentation was a gallery loan within Galleries @ SAT, documented for February 2023.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

DeLoné Osby, Jocelyn van Taylor, Kwanzaa Edwards, Hailey Gearo, Swerve O’ Harold, Tyson Davis, Alain Gakwaya, Darryl Dunn, Asia Dodd and Jaden D. Blango.

Artist list documented by WOAI in February 2023; Jocelyn’s historical publication credit is retained.

AIRPORT BENCH / PRESS + DOCUMENTATION