Green Flash Sculpture

I love it when public art and science collide! So great for my two boys, and everyone really, to see how art can help us understand our world better.

I never really knew what the hell this thing was for but now that I know this thing is perfect. I long for the day when there is random art everywhere

I understand the purpose and function but always think it looks cheap, plasticy, and tacky when I pass by. Come to think of it I just changed my review from 1 star to 5 star because its urban blight like this that helps keep the yuppies from accomplishing their political agenda of transforming PB into another La Jolla. They’ve been slowly reducing the number of liquor licenses over the last 10 years and instituting small business tax incentives to replace those establishments with tourist junk shops selling wooden dolphins and flourescent glow-​in-​the-​dark oil paintings.

Only in crazy San Diego would a work of public art pay homage to a blip on the horizon when the sun goes down, but that is exactly what this Green Flash Sculpture is-​a homage to the refractive rays of the sun as it sets in the west and disappears into the ocean. Before it makes that final drop, it is said that a Green Flash appears.
Green flashes are real and not illusionary phenomena seen at sunrise and sunset, «when some part of the Sun suddenly changes color (at sunset, from red or orange to green or blue).» The word «flash» refers to the sudden appearance and brief spurt of green color, lasting just a few seconds at moderate latitudes. Many viewers will attribute the Green Flash to a hallucination or think them to be mirages. Perhaps this opinion can be understood as a vivid response to what these people are currently smoking and many times it is not cigarettes!
There are physiological explanations for the Green Flash: as the area that turns green is ordinarily near the limit of the eye’s resolution, these are sometimes called «green dot» displays. That reminds me of what happens when someone dies and is said to feel the aural sensation of moving through a tunnel towards «the light.» Still, the absolute experience of The Green Flash is best seen and felt on a clear, cloudless day where a steady view of the horizon is available.
A concentrated gaze towards the sun will, hopefully allow for a brief glimpse at that immediate time when the sun disappears and that is when a green flash will erupt! It really is a trip because it appears and is gone in a (green) flash!
So nice that there is this colorful salute near the public restrooms in Mission Beach to honor the Green Flash phenomena. The bright colors of the sculpture represent the atmospheric refraction of sunlight that is captured into over-​lapping images and also pays tribute to the beauty and elegance of nature and creation best represented by one of the most awesome displays of Mother Nature: the bounteous Ocean and splendiforous beaches of southern California.