How a Matt Devine Sculpture Gets Installed
Full Circle #2, 2023, aluminum with powder coat, 87 x 100 x 97 inches
Not every art project fits in a crate.
When a collector in Palos Verdes commissioned a large-scale aluminum sculpture by Matt Devine for their coastal property — a dramatic mesa site overlooking the Pacific — the work involved went well beyond selecting the right piece. From commission approval to final placement, here's what that process actually looked like.
The Commission
Matt Devine makes large-scale abstract sculptures in aluminum and steel that command space without overwhelming it. His work shifts with light and movement — qualities that matter enormously when you're siting a piece against a view like this one. The collectors wanted something that earned its place in that landscape rather than competed with it.
The commission process took about nine weeks. Before approving the final design, the collectors reviewed past work examples, Photoshop renderings of the piece on site, and a photo of the maquette at scale. The final work — Full Circle #2, 2023 — came in at 87 x 100 x 97 inches, fabricated in aluminum with a UV-protected red powder coat chosen specifically for its coastal environment.
maquette with scaled up sculpture prior to paint
Getting It There
A sculpture of this scale doesn't ship in a standard crate. To move the piece from Matt's studio outside Portland, Oregon to a residential site in Palos Verdes, I arranged transport via hot-shot trailer — a dedicated flatbed attached to a pickup truck that allows for clean loading at the studio and direct delivery to the site without intermediate handling. For work of this scale and value, controlling every handoff matters.
The Installation
For installations like this I work with Level One Art Installation, a Southern California team I've relied on for close to fifteen years. Their precision and experience with large-scale residential and commercial installs is unmatched — and on a mesa site with limited access and no margin for error, that experience was essential.
A carefully orchestrated forklift maneuver placed the sculpture in its final position on the mesa, the ocean stretching out beyond it. When it landed, it was right — the piece, the site, the light all working together exactly as intended.
What This Kind of Project Actually Requires
Commissions like this don't just require taste. They require logistics, vendor relationships, timeline management, and the ability to anticipate problems before they become expensive ones. From the first rendering to the final placement, every decision has consequences — and having someone who has done this before makes the difference between a stressful process and a seamless one.
If you're considering a large-scale commission or installation for a residential or commercial property, I'd love to talk through what that process looks like.
-Erin Page