All Projects
“Follow your bliss and doors will open where none existed"
The first sculpture in The Bliss Project series by Marco Cochrane of a woman, Deja Solis, expressing her humanity, Bliss Dance, debuted at Burning Man in 2010 and was located on Treasure Island in San Francisco from May 2011-2015. Bliss Dance has recently found a new and permanent home at The Park on the Las Vegas Strip. These sculptures are intended to demand a change in perspective… to be catalysts for social change. They are intended to challenge the viewer to see past the sexual charge that has developed around the female body to the human being. They are intended to de-objectify women and inspire men and women to take action to end violence against women, thus allowing both women and men to live fully and thrive. Forty feet tall, Bliss Dance depicts a woman dancing, eyes closed, expressing her joy, her energy, herself… even though it may not be safe to do so. She is brave, strong, powerful, riveting.
A marriage of classical sculptural technique and modern design, artist Marco Cochrane and his crew constructed Bliss Dance out of steel rod and tubing utilizing two layers of geodesic triangles, covered by a skin of stainless steel mesh and lit from both inside and outside by 2,828 individual RGB LED lights (new for The Park, Lighting Program by Ka-Ping Yee). Held together by 55,000 welds and supported by six, 2.5 inch solid steel rods in the weight-bearing ankle, Bliss Dance is a manifestation of the artist’s goal to marry the masculine feel of triangles, trusses and steel, with the feminine form and spirit.
To create Bliss Dance, Marco sculpted model Deja Solis in clay, then used a Pantograph – a medieval-era enlargement tool- to make a hand built enlargement, 14 ft. 6 in. tall. The sculpture was then again enlarged using the Pantograph to her final 40-foot form.
