Union Square retailers and tourism officials are hoping that a Burning Man statue of a 45-foot-tall nude woman is going to rev up the beleaguered district’s shopping scene, and we’ll see if they’re right when it goes up in early February.

We brought you the news late last summer than Burning Man artist Marco Cochrane’s towering sculpture of nude woman called R-Evolution could be coming to Union Square this winter if all of the necessary permitting i’s were dotted and t’s crossed. Cochrane’s similar large-naked-lady sculpture Truth is Beauty has been an attraction near the San Leandro BART station for years (though has drawn a few pearl-clutching complaints). This R-Evolution sculpture originally appeared at Burning Man in 2015, and has graced public spaces in Petaluma, had a 2024 residency in Miami Beach, and as seen below, had a bumpy 2023 stay on the Las Vegas Strip during which the promoter suddenly went bankrupt.

No such trouble here, we hope, as the Chronicle reports that the jumbo-size nude woman sculpture is coming to Union Square in late January. KRON4 described the sculpture’s technical specs as being “fabricated from steel rod and tubing with two layers of geodesic triangles and covered by stainless steel mesh.”

“This work of art will be a huge draw for the region,” Union Square Alliance CEO Marisa Rodriguez told the Chronicle. “The people who come to see the sculpture will need a cup of coffee and they’ll need dinner and a place to stay. They may want to go shopping or catch a show. This will be a huge boost and economic driver.”

Well, certainly a number of Burners will turn out for the official unveiling on February 6, which will have cocktail carts serving drinks, and DJs from the Burning Man crew Opulent Temple. The event will coincide with a Downtown First Thursdays party, so it will likely draw crowds. But any traveling Burners presumably have a couch they could crash on in San Francisco, so I’m not expecting that event to sell out the Handlery or anything.  

Will people really travel to SF on an ongoing basis just to see a steel Burning Man sculpture of a nude woman? How much tourism can this thing generate? The Burberry crowd and the Burning Man crowd would seem to have little overlap. Though who knows, maybe the track record of Cochrane’s traveling installations has broadened the appeal of his work.

The sculpture will be up during next month's NBA All-Star weekend festivities, so that certainly can’t hurt.


And much like viewers did in Miami Beach, you will be able to hang out at the base of the R-Evolution statue once it's installed. Above we see the sculptor Marco Cochrane (right) alongside the model for the statue, Deja Solis (left). Solis, now 45, posed for it while in her mid-20s.

Cochrane was reserved when contacted by the Chronicle for comment. “I speak in body language, not in language language,” he told the Chron. “I hope people come to experience whatever they feel when they see it, which is usually something very nice. People get it without having to know anything about it.”  

As an interesting aside, the National Park Service denied a 2017 request to put R-Evolution at Washington Monument’s Mall. Park Service officials said it was too tall and would obstruct views of the Monument, but hey, this was during the previous Trump administration.

So maybe Union Square can generate some tourism interest by claiming this statue was “Too hot for DC,” and try to get that “huge boost and economic driver” that tourism officials are hoping for.

Related: Giant Nude Female Figure Likely to Be Installed In Union Square This Winter [SFist]

Image via MarcoCochrane.com