Former Saipan artist’s ‘heart’ fetches $50K before auction

Former Saipan resident and visual artist Marconi Calindas’ contribution to the Hearts in San Francisco Project by the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation fetched $50,000 even before the start of the live auction of the annual fundraiser.

Calindas previously worked as a reporter with the Saipan Tribune for more than two years before deciding to concentrate in being a visual artist. He is now based in San Francisco where he made a name with the use of sunflowers on his artworks.

The Hearts in San Francisco is a public art project that aims to raise money to fund the programs of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. The project started in 2004 where Bay Area artists transform large and plain heart sculptures to works of art.

Calindas’ large heart sculpture’s artwork was sold to one of the corporate sponsors of this year’s Heroes & Hearts and Hearts After Dark. All heart sculptures will be on displayed on the fundraising event for SFGHF on Thursday, Feb. 18, at AT&T Park.

Calindas said he has no idea which corporate sponsor bought his artwork but was glad to be part of the project and his design selected to be part of the 19 hearts that will be auctioned. He was elated to learn that his “heartwork” was bought even before bidding started.

He said he always dreamt of being part of the project the first time he saw the huge heart sculptures around the city. “I told myself back then that someday my art would be in one of those hearts as well. Every year they ask local artists to submit designs and they get a lot of submissions from thousands of artists that thrive in the city.”

“I was so happy to have been selected and it is indeed an honor to represent also the Filipino artists who try to make it in this city, if not in the whole country. I just submitted my designs and luckily got selected.”

The Philippine-born Calindas said he wanted to show the free spirit of San Francisco’s diverse community on his artwork. “My particular theme for the Hearts in San Francisco depicts a playful flower. I wanted to show the free spirit of its people and how this city is indeed magical.”

A committee composed of SFGHF staff and board members, and community volunteers select the artworks that will be part of the Hearts of San Francisco project. The hearts, since 2004, has already raised more than $10 million that funded SFGHF’s Hearts Grants Program.

His artworks have been publicly displayed in the San Francisco City Hall, Children’s Creative Museum, SoMARTS Gallery SF, Hotel Triton Mezzanine Gallery, Magnet SF, and Menlo College.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors also recognized Calindas for advocating equality and understanding that is shown with his artworks.

His biggest accomplishment so far was his design being one of the four that was featured for the Emirates Skywards frequent flyer card for 2016. His design, featuring the Burj Dubai, was used for the Platinum card.