Chance meeting leads small Dallas firm to sponsor SEPT. 11 tribute at Statue Of Liberty.
DALLAS, AUG. 28, 2003 -- Five years ago while killing a little time between business meetings in San Francisco, Dallas businessman David Silver chanced upon Chinese-born artist Jian “Pop” Zhao. Silver was immediately drawn to the artist’s work.
In the ensuing years, Silver’s interest, admiration and friendship with Jian grew. As a result, Truco Enterprises, LP, the Dallas-based company founded by Dave Silver and Roy Truitt, is a principal underwriter of an ambitious memorial event remembering the innocent lives lost on Sept. 11.
On the morning of Sept. 7, hundreds of volunteers will launch the Bicoastal (New York and San Francisco) Sept. 11 Memorial Event. Both cities will unfurl a five-mile silk banner with Jian’s continual design of the American flag. The banners will embody 3,000 flag images, commemorating the nearly 3,000 lives lost.
In New York the banner will encircle Lady Liberty and her island, and in San Francisco, the banner will line the shore. Jian calls the “earth artwork,” Celebrate: Life, Liberty & Beauty, Part II. Part I of Celebrate was exhibited last year displaying Jian’s American flag artwork on a silk banner along 6½ miles of the San Francisco coast.
Jian is a renowned figure in the world of contemporary Asian art. His recent creation of a 10,000-meter Olympic dragon on the Great Wall of China qualified in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest artwork in the world. (To view Celebrate and other works of art by Jian, go to www.tibetmoon.com.)
Silver and Truitt are excited to be able to put on display their support of the American Spirit and to provide a gesture to honor the memory of the victims of the Sept. 11 attack. “It’s unusual for a small company to be able to participate in an event of this magnitude,” Silver said. “This is an opportunity for us to contribute to an important statement that says to the world – The American spirit is enduring and will prevail!”
In addition to Truco, other supporting organizations and companies include American Red Cross 9.11 Recovery Program, National Park Service, Wise Snacks, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, art collectors, and many community organizations throughout New York City.
