After being away from its display site for more than two years, the comical Yin Yang sculpture won't return to Sue Bierman Park on the Embarcadero after all. Instead, it's headed back to its original home at San Francisco International Airport.
We reported a few times on the sculpture by Robert Arneson, which consists of two oversized, egg-shaped heads. It was removed in 2013 after spending more than a decade in the park. In January, Kate Patterson-Murphy, communications director for the San Francisco Arts Commission, told us a return date was still unknown and that the site might need modifications.
However, she emailed recently to say the sculpture must be returned to the airport:
As it happens, while the sculpture is a part of the Civic Art Collection, it was commissioned for the Airport’s collection and was on loan to the Port site. Now the Airport wants the sculpture back. FAA regulations prohibit diversion of Airport assets, and the Airport is concerned that continued loan of the sculpture outside the Airport could be interpreted as a diversion by the FAA. Several sites are being considered for relocation at the Airport, but final location hasn’t yet been determined. We’ll keep you posted.
We asked Patterson if any other artwork would be placed there, and she replied, "The plan right now is to return that site to its original state, which was a planter."
