John Tagiuri has been creating public art works in and around the city of Boston for over fifteen years. He specializes in community-focused permanent and temporary public sculptures and installations that rejuvenate inner city parks and schoolyards, and explore social issues. His projects are thought provoking and fun for people of all ages and backgrounds. Tagiuri has worked extensively with inner city youth through his work with UrbanArt’s, Boston’s Schoolyard Initiative, the Cambridge Arts Council, the Somerville Arts Council, the Browne Fund, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. His work has appeared in downtown Boston, East Boston, Boston’s South End, Dorchester, Roxbury, Brighton, South Boston, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, Somerville, Cambridge and Newton.
Tagiuri has also used his artwork to speak out for the environment. He has supported recycling by building a full sized ranch house, the Trash Temple, out of the trash that an average family of four produces in a year. The Trash Temple was erected on Boston City Hall plaza and was seen by five hundred thousand visitors. Trash and the image of the American dream house were juxtaposed and joined in this provocative piece. More recently Tagiuri designed, printed and distributed over one million anti-SUV (sport utility vehicle) violation tickets, in eight hundred American cities. Through this grassroots, web based, campaign, he was able to force a dialogue about the safety and environmental dangers of SUV’s. The project reached millions more people through the national coverage it received in the New York Times, USA Today, Sierra Magazine, 60 Minutes, Time Magazine, Doonesbury, NPR and Fox News, to mention a few.
Currently Tagiuri is finishing a large public project for O’Day Park in Boston’s South End and he is launching a national “global climate change” and energy conservation program in Boston schools.