Uproar over 'obscene' 50ft statue towering over San Francisco's skyline that 'nobody asked for'
A towering 45-foot-tall statue of a naked woman has sparked uproar in San Francisco after it was unveiled along the city's iconic Embarcadero.
The sculpture, titled R-EVOLUTION, is the work of California artist Marco Cochrane and was first unveiled at Burning Man in 2015.
The statue - weighing a staggering 32,000 pounds - was too heavy to be installed in New York's Union Square earlier this year, where it was initially headed.
Instead, it has now found a temporary home in Embarcadero Plaza.
But its latest appearance - standing completely nude in a major public plaza - has ignited fierce backlash online and in the city.
Critics have blasted the piece of artwork as 'obscene' and saying 'nobody asked for it.'
'Somebody put up a 45' naked lady statue in San Francisco, nobody asked for it,' one X user fumed.
'Now you have to walk between her legs to get from the Ferry Building to the Embarcadero.'
The statue has her arms outstretched, her eyes closed, and her bare body towering over pedestrians just steps from the bay.
The display - which began Thursday, April 10 - is expected to remain in place through October.
After that, organizers say it may be leased or sold.
From 5-6pm everyday, the statue 'breathes' as built-in electronics cause her chest to slowly rise and fall in a show.
But many residents have slammed the statue.
'Who funded this dumb ass s**t?' one commenter asked on X, as photos and videos of the sculpture circulated widely.
Others complained the statue was installed without any public input.
It was a move permitted because the project was privately funded.
'R-EVOLUTION is public art only in the most literal sense: It exists in public space,' local NPR station KQED wrote. 'The public - as in, the people - had nothing to do with it.'
Despite being labeled a message of 'feminine liberation,' the 47-foot sculpture wasn't even made by a woman.
Cochrane, 63, has said the piece is meant to inspire a 'shift in perspective' around gender and power.
The display - which began Thursday, April 10 - is expected to remain in place through October
But not everyone is against the eye-popping artwork.
'I'm impressed by the musculature, the accuracy,' retired physician Daniel Murphy, who came to see the piece in person, told Courthouse News.
'There's just a lot of anatomical detail that is more accurate than I would have expected.'
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