The sky’s the limit for 'Truth and Beauty'

Photo courtesy of East Bay Times.

The new San Leandro Tech Campus has a 55-foot-tall lyrical sculpture of a woman and she is absolutely beautiful. Good thing too, because it’s actual title is “Truth is Beauty.”

Located right next to the San Leandro BART Station, “Truth is Beauty” is soon to be a shining icon of San Leandro and specifically the San Leandro Tech Campus. It sparkles in the daylight as the sky peeks through and reflects off the stainless-steel grid work that defines her form.

At night, with over 2,500 LED lights that are computer generated into patterns and colors incorporated into her “skin,” it is hoped that she will also serve both literally and figuratively as a beacon for fairness, compassion and respect for women everywhere in the Bay Area when they see it. 

Marco Cochrane, the artist who made her, wanted to make an homage to the untapped power and positive energy of women in the world. The sculpture is the second part of a three-part series of sculptures that Cochrane calls the “Bliss Project,” with “Bliss Dance” being the first in the series (now residing on Treasure Island) and “R’Evolution,” which debuted at this year’s Burning Man, being the third. 

Looking at “Truth and Beauty,” frozen as she arches her back and stretches her arms gracefully toward the heavens, one gets the feeling that she possesses a tranquil sense of understanding that her feminine powers are valuable, influential and necessary to the betterment of our future world.  “Truth is Beauty is the heart and soul of SLTC,” Gaye Quinn said, the managing director of Westlake Urban, the developer who brought Truth is Beauty to the San Leandro campus.

“This stunning public sculpture is already stimulating a vital conversation about what the world would be like if women were safe. It is our hope that the sculpture will help to foster inclusion and safety and create long-lasting connections with SLTC employees and the community,” Quinn said.

"Truth is Beauty" can be found by taking the southernmost exit on the BART platform and heading west. Just remember to look up!