After an 18-month stay, sculptor Marco Cochrane's giant nude woman piece, originally titled R-Evolution, will be disassembled and removed to the artist's warehouse starting next Monday.Many locals and tourists alike have enjoyed the drama of the 45-foot-tall statue, originally a piece of Burning Man art, that has stood at Embarcadero Plaza since April 2025. Artist Marco Cochrane has reportedly renamed it I Am, which is about as impactful as its original title. It was conceived as part of a trio of giant nude women that Cochrane imagined for the playa — along with the dancing figure known as Bliss Dance, from 2010, and the figure of a woman with arms reaching upward to the sky, from 2013, titled Truth Is Beauty, which was permanently installed at the San Leandro BART station a decade ago.As the Chronicle reports, the 32,000-pound sculpture is getting disassembled, with preparation for that process starting on Monday and expected to go on for three days. The nonprofit sponsor of the installation, the Big Art Loop, has already extended the stay of I Am twice, and now it will be headed to Cochrane's Petaluma warehouse for refurbishing — ahead of a possible sale, as we learned in June that Cochrane is looking for a buyer for it.Big Art Loop co-founder and executive producer Shannon Riley tells the Chronicle this week that Cochrane's piece "is a big part of why Big Art Loop exists,” and the the sculpture "showed us what one monumental work can do for a public space, and San Francisco kept showing up for her."Not everyone was a huge fan of the piece, which had originally been set to rise in Union Square Park — before it became clear that the pavers in that park were not suited to supporting 32,000 pounds of wire mesh and steel.Apart from the kind of ho-hum, Burning Man basicness of it — she's nude, she's very tall, she looked striking on the playa at night, no doubt — many pointed out that, strong as she may look, this nude female figure is just another in a very long line of female nudes in art made by men, which seems created in large part to encourage and reward the hetero male gaze.Others questioned why this particular piece got to occupy such a prominent, highly visible space in the city, and that this didn't get any public review."What is disappointing and confusing about this is the city allowing private money to come in and commandeer very public space," said galleries Rebecca Camacho, speaking to the Chronicle last year. "It’s a slippery slope when you open the gates to basically anybody who has money and can put something into a very public environment and create their own statement."Critic Max Blue, writing in the Examiner last year, called the piece an "utter travesty," and countering Cochrane's narrative about it embodying female empowerment, Blue writes, "wouldn’t female empowerment look more like platforming female artists, instead of men allegedly speaking on their behalf?"Following the piece's removal next week, work will continue on the massive renovation of Embarcadero Plaza and the adjacent Sue Bierman Park to create Embarcadero Park and Art Agnos Plaza. Three weeks ago, SF Rec Parks began removing 97 street trees from the area, in preparation for the addition of new species, which will include coast redwood, Monterey cypress, coast live oak, and more.Critics of the new plaza design have already discussed how the renovation plan, which is largely being funded by local billionaires, is treating public art as an afterthought in the design, rather than selecting that art and designing spaces around it. As one Redditor suggested when the plans were revealed, developer BXP, which runs Embarcadero Center, wants "an inoffensive front lawn for their shopping mall and office tower," and that the city ought to be "taking the opportunity presented by removing Vaillancourt Fountain to put in something bold and iconic that actually might make this a world class destination."The official groundbreaking for the new $40 million park is happening later this year, with completion expected by late 2027 or early 2028.Previously: Giant Nude Woman Statue at SF’s Embarcadero Is Up For Sale, and It Weighs 16 Tons ...read more read less