The artist behind downtown’s most striking new art

‘Orchid City’ in West Palm Beach is a natural riot of pink and green.

Ben Leone’s fuchsia orchids, the five-story sculpture draped on the side of the Anya apartments in downtown West Palm Beach, draw grateful gasps even from jaded locals.

Leone, a Palm Beach native has always loved working with his hands. He grew up around construction sites in Palm Beach and in upstate New York.

“I love the sound of hammering and sawing,” he told Stet News.

Today, he pursues his own construction projects on a grand scale. The largest orchid is 50 feet tall, while others wrap gracefully around the building, by far the hardest detail to get right, Leone said.

Describing the work on Instagram (@benmleone), Leone asked, “How do I make something meaningful that relates back to the community and speaks of West Palm Beach? That symbolism is represented in the orchids you see everywhere in South Florida.”

The orchids that tower overhead near the West Palm Beach waterfront are crafted from sturdy, lightweight aluminum and half-inch-thick polycarbonate infused with layers of color. The colors aren’t static, Leone says. “The depth of color changes. The color from direct sunlight is different from morning or afternoon light, so there’s a living element to it,” he said.

Leone chose materials with the smallest environmental impact that could withstand harsh sun, wind and rain. The sculpture had to meet hurricane wind requirements to ensure no orchids take flight during a Category 3 storm.

When they light up at night, they’re even more visible. Each piece is a four-inch-deep lightbox fitted with LED lights. Leone joined forces with a sign company and a specialist at outdoor lighting. “I wanted to be sure the lighting elements could be concealed,” Leone said. “Who wants to see a bunch of wires and bulbs?”  

The project’s theme is to balance progress, in the form of a 16-story luxury apartment building with a rooftop pool, with preservation, represented by the orchid. The work was commissioned by the architect Spina O’Rourke + Partners and the developer, Woodfield Development.

The installation at 345 Banyan Blvd. took Leone three years, much of it during COVID. The shutdown gave him and his team time to plan and edit. Most of the work was done in Leone’s spacious studio in an industrial area off Belvedere Road near Palm Beach International Airport. It was installed in October.

“My energy is best used doing something physical,” Leone said.

But that doesn’t mean he eschews technology for the intricate calculations needed.  For the complicated piece, he used CAD (Computer-Aided Design) and CNC (Computer Numerical Control — the automated control of tools by computer for precision fabrication).

In the end, Leone did the heavy lifting, carefully fitting pieces together in October from the bucket of a lift 50 feet in the air, which he called “exhilarating.”

Finishing a project that took so much work and time had Leone reminiscing: “Some of it is about building relationships. It all starts with the people. That’s how you make something successful.”

That construction site Leone grew up on?

It was The Breakers Palm Beach.

Ben’s father, Paul Leone, joined The Breakers in 1985, and in 1994 was named the first president of the world-renowned company who was not a member of the owner’s family. Paul Leone oversaw a five-year, $75 million renovation from 1995 to 1997 that included adding The Shops at The Breakers. In 1999, it opened its new oceanfront spa, the beach club and the Ponce de Leon ballroom. In 2003, The Breakers added its family entertainment center, inspired by Ben and his three younger brothers.

Leone remembers wheelbarrow rides and digging holes and looking at blueprints rolled out on the job site worktable in the Florida sun.

In the summer, the young Leone flew north to work with his cousin, Riley Dixon,  at his Uncle Tommy Dixon’s construction company in New York state.  “I gained an understanding of materials and learned about engineering guidelines. It was a small company in a small town and it did everything.” 

Of note: If the name Riley Dixon sounds familiar to NFL fans, it should. He’s a punter for the Denver Broncos. 

Today, Leone and his long-time partner Agnes Pompeii share a cottage in Flamingo Park.

Update on ‘Silhouette’

Stet told you about Leone’s other orchid sculpture to be displayed at Avenir’s Town Center that was awaiting board approval.

“The project was approved tonight so it’s a go!” Leone texted to Stet after the board voted on Aug. 1 to move ahead with the project at this new neighborhood of nearly 4,000 homes on the former Vavrus Ranch off Northlake Boulevard west of the Beeline Highway.

The theme again is progress and preservation and how we balance them. The 10-foot-tall orchid incorporates shades of white and cobalt blue, resembling the patterns popular in Chinese and Dutch porcelain vessels, including those used to display orchids. The sculpture will be coated with clear anti-graffiti paint and lighted at night.

Palm Beach Gardens requires this project through its Art in Public Places program.  New nonresidential developments that cost $1 million or more must include art, paid for by the developer, with a value equal to or greater than 1% of the construction cost. 

The Avenir art project is expected to cost $125,000 and be completed by February.

Five public sculptures worth a look

1. Sun Salutations by Vito Di Bari was installed in 2021 in Sunset Park, 3601 N. Australian Ave., West Palm Beach. This mega-sized glass suncatcher is gorgeous from any angle. Sun Salutations was the first public artwork located in the Northshore neighborhood.
2. Material (SG) II by Yinka Shonibare in front of 360 Rosemary, an office building in CityPlace.  The British-Nigerian artist’s sculpture is made of fabric based on Indonesian batik patterns from the 1800s and has themes of wind and color, diversity and inclusion.
3. Poppies by W. Stanley Proctor is on display at NorthCorp Center, 3910 RCA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens. A veteran sitting on a bench of marble is inscribed “Greater love hath no man than this: That a man lay down his life for his country.” Find more Palm Beach Gardens’ sculptures here.
4. The untitled sculpture of a life-size man and woman searching the ocean horizon for a boat is a memorial erected in 2021 by the AustinBlu Foundation at Jupiter Beach Park, 1375 Jupiter Beach Road. Dedicated to those lost at sea in memory of Austin Stephanos and his friend, Perry Cohen, two 14-year-olds who disappeared off the Jupiter Inlet in 2015, this poignant piece by Robert St. Croix Sculpture Studio & Foundry of West Palm Beach was commissioned by the Stephanos family.
5. Rocket, the monumental sculpture by Hubert Phipps at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus, the historic tech landmark where the IBM personal computer was invented. This public art program is part of a cultural partnership between the Boca Raton Museum of Art and CP Group, the owner of the campus. One of the largest outdoor sculptures ever chosen for a public art initiative in Palm Beach County, the piece is valued at $1.5 million, stands 30 feet tall, weighs 9.8 tons, and took more than 7,000 square feet of stainless steel to construct.