Art in the Parks
Past Exhibits
List of All Exhibits | Current Exhibits
 Manolo Valdés’, Manolo Valdés at Bryant ParkMarch 1, 2007 to April 15, 2007 Bryant Park, Manhattan Image: Manolo Valdés’ bronze sculptures based on Diego Velázquez’ Las Meninas unveiled in Bryant Park; Photo by Clare Weiss Description:
Four of Valdés’ sculptures depict female heads, their calm facial composure and structured equilibrium offset rhythmically by dynamic ornamental headpieces. Two of the four works, all of which measure over 13 feet high, are debuting in Bryant Park. Accompanying these forms are two groups of elegantly imposing figures based on Diego Velázquez’ Infanta Margarita and Reina Mariana from the painting Las Meninas. The works are courtesy of Marlborough Gallery working in cooperation with the Parks Department, the Bryant Park Corporation, and Instituto Cervantes, the cultural arm of the Spanish government. Related Info: Press Release |
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The Fortunate Islands Image: Seth Weiner, the Fortunate Islands |
This installation features a prefabricated security booth, but the booth does not function as a security node or personnel shelter. Rather, it contains a tree with small video surveillance monitors mounted to its branches, perched on the limbs in such a way as to be reminiscent of birds in their natural habitat.
Canaries originated from The Canary Islands, which were once referred to as "The Fortunate Islands". For centuries, The Fortunate Islands were thought to reside at the edge of the world. This, suggests the artist, is not entirely dissimilar from the way in which many Manhattan residents regard the lower tip of their island; a neighborhood at the edge of their world, which also happens to be the world's financial center. Simultaneously earnest and ironic, the title provides an entry point to the project's multi-layered metaphors.
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Mad. Sq Art: Ursula von Rydingsvard |
Four major sculptures by Ursula von Rydingsvard will be on view, including the artist’s first translucent outdoor work. . The centerpiece is Damski Czepek, a new sculpture for the Park’s luxuriant Oval Lawn. In the tradition of the artist, Damski Czepek begins with a quotidian household object remembered from childhood—here, a bonnet, which the sculptor transforms into an evocative abstract form. Mad. Sq. Art: Ursula von Rydingsvard is a production of the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
It's My Park segment about Mad. Sq Art
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Awash |
Awash, a sculptural installation by Matthew Geller, invites the public to sit and swing beneath a cooling stream of water. Geller’s steel-and- Plexiglas structure provides shelter from its own inclement weather. A water tank sprays water onto a skylight incongruously mounted on a "sidewalk bridge," much like the ones that protect pedestrians at construction sites. Inside the bridge hang several seats recalling both old-fashioned porch swings and traditional park benches, allowing up to eight people to sit and talk while rain splashes romantically on the skylight overhead. The swings and spraying water hark back to an earlier time, when Collect Pond Park was known a fishing and recreation lake. After suffering the effects of too-dense urbanization, the Collect was drained by the City and became the home of the notorious "Five Points" district, immortalized in the book and film Gangs of New York.
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Feynman's Fancy |
These stainless steel sculptures are based on the physicist Richard P. Feynman's diagrams of the interactions of electrically charged particles. Marcia Raff, the artist, has participated in public art projects in multiple locations in the United States and Israel. She is a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, International Sculptors Society, USA, and the National Arts Club, New York City.
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Become Image courtesy of the artist |
This mural covers a temporary wall adjacent to Taffee Playground. The subject of it relates to the omnipresence of litter in the neighborhood surrounding the playground. The artist selected the black plastic shopping bag as a symbol of this urban problem. "Rather than focus on the carelessness that this object represents when found in the street, I've chosen to sculpt it into another kind of debris: a leaf," says Rebecca Pollock, the artist. "Become encourages others to make similar leaps of the imagination with all the elements of their environment. I hope that this image will promote a spirit of making something beautiful out of something ugly and making the most out of limitation."
Ms. Pollock is enrolled in the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts.
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Mysteries of Columbus
Image: Cristóbal Gabarron, The Mysteries of Columbus X (at Columbus Circle). Credit: Malcolm Pinckney, NYC Parks & Recreation |
On view along Broadway is an installation of eight colorful abstract sculptures by Spanish artist Cristóbal Gabarron. The explorer Christopher inspires the works, which appear on the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of his death. The sculptures can be seen at: Simon Bolivar Plaza (6th Avenue and Central Park South); Columbus Circle (59th Street); Dante Park (63rd Street); Broadway and 79th Street; Montiefore Park (Broadway and 137th Street); Broadway and 157th Street; and at Mitchel Square (Broadway and 168th Street).
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Cities in Transition |
In this exhibition, five images from each artist will look at how urban America is evolving, including the face of immigrants in New York, the impact of the automobile on Boston, and the changing landscape of Hartford. American painter, photographer and print maker Chuck Close photographed New York City. American photographer and filmmaker Mitch Epstein shot Boston. Indian photographer Dayanita Singh, known for her portraits and landscape images, captured Hartford.
The project is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation.
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Garden for the Accused Image: Dennis Oppenheim, Garden of Delights, 2006, mixed media installation |
Its title referring to the area's adjacent courts and jails, Garden for the Accused includes trees, rocks, flowers and hedges, radically transformed from their counterparts in nature. Fluorescent trees with steel mesh branches support brightly colored acrylic foliage. "In a way, it's like bringing Las Vegas to the backyard," says Dennis Oppenheim, the artist. Oppenheim's new work follows a long trajectory from his early rejection of the gallery space for the outdoors and even his own body as sites for art. His first earthworks in 1967 "brought the land and the soil into the work itself." Oppenheim has shown extensively in major galleries and museums around the world, including several retrospectives following his first at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1974.
An indoor and outdoor exhibition at the Arsenal in Central Park, 5th Avenue at 64th Street, will be shown inconjunction with the project through November 8, 2006.
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Corner Plot |
An ambitious and intricate sculptural installation by Sarah Sze has a presence both above and below ground. Corner Plot depicts a corner of a building that has emerged from the pavement to reveal a mysterious subterranean interior within. Sze's installation is a project of the Public Art Fund, which regularly programs art in New York City's parks.
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Alert Cat, Betty, Big Dog, and Happy Dog |
Hamptons-based Dorothy Frankel displays bronze sculptures of three dogs and one cat. The artist has been very active in volunteer work at local animal shelters and in public education programs pertaining to animal care.
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The Sphere |
Battery Park, Manhattan Fritz Koenig's The Sphere, a 45,000 pound sculpture made of steel and bronze, adorned the fountain at the World Trade Center's Tobin Plaza from 1971 to September 11, 2001. Bent and damaged, but still recognizable, the sculpture has been relocated to Battery Park, where it stands as a powerful temporary memorial commemorating the lives of those lost in the World Trade Center attack and in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. On September 11, 2002, a dedication was held to officially recognize the artwork as an interim memorial and to light an eternal flame in memory of those lost.
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SURF'S UP |
Esther Grillo's detailed piece showcasves nine photorealistic figures set in an expressionistic surf. The 74' x 12' mural can be seen 24 hours a day at Beach 108th Street on Shore Front Parkway, Rockaway, NY. This project was funded by the City Parks Foundation Grant, the Rockaway Artist's Alliance Apprenticeship Program, Beach Channel High School students and S.H.A.F.T.
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Garden of Delights: |
This annual exhibition includes sculptures by local artists, including: Courtney Kessel Clevenger, Allan Cyprys, Thea Lanzisero, Alexandra Limpert, Doug Makemson, Jack R. Howard Potter, Rodger Stevens, Naomi Teppich, and Tyrome Tripoli. The exhibition continues in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park.
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Hallelujah Public Art Festival Image: Luisa Caldwell, Jetfire |
Four installations are part of the Hallelujah Public Art Festival, a production of the West Harlem Art Fund. At Marcus Garvey Park, Cuban-American artist Florencio Gelabert presents Forest Door, three tilting columns of stainless steel. At Morningside, Barbara Segal’s Drawn to Water features playful, oversized lily pads and dragonflies on the park’s scenic pond. On the south lawn of Jackie Robinson, Luisa Caldwell’s Jetfire is a giant “model” plane, poised for flight.
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Studio in the Park |
This outdoor exhibition features site specific works by eleven contemporary artists: Orly Genger, Robert Greenberg, Elana Herzog, McKendree Key, Mischa Kuball, Emil Lukas, Fabian Marcaccio, Alexis Rockman, Kenny Scharf, Gary Simmons, and Steed Taylor. Two works will fill tunnels; one sits on the water, and another on the grates covering the railroad tracks. The project is curated by Karin Bravin of BravinLee Programs, and is presented by the Riverside Park Fund in celebration of its 20th anniversary.
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Interstate - the American Road Trip |
Interstate – the American Road Trip is a collaboration between Socrates and High Desert Test Sites in the southern California desert. Interstate is a cross-country exhibition about the American road trip that addresses the space between the two sites – both a great geographical distance and a vast psychological expanse. The participating artists are: Lisa Anne Auerbach, Melissa Brown, Katie Grinnan, Chris Hanson & Hendrika Sonnenberg, Mark Klassen, Los Angeles Urban Rangers, R. Scott Mitchell, Carolina Pedraza, Virginia Poundstone and Allison Smith.
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Trailer Park Image: Kim Holleman, Trailer Park (interior view) |
Kim Holleman’s Trailer Park (2006) will be shown as part of the exhibition PORTABLE at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. Founded in 1982 and based on Kenmare Street, the Storefront for Art and Architecture is a nonprofit organization committed to advancing innovative positions in art, architecture and design.
Trailer Park is a living park environment housed within an 18’ x 8’ x 7’ travel trailer. Holleman has gutted the interior and built and planted a park inside. She has installed two park benches, a water fountain, flowerbeds, earthworms and ladybugs. Trailer Park functions as both a visual attraction in Petrosino Square, and as a platform for conversations about public park spaces. The interior of the trailer can be viewed Tuesday-Saturday, 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
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The Frontier Prophet
Left: DeeJay Bawden, Frontier Project (detail); |
This temporary sculpture commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism. In March 1830, at the age of 24, he published the "Book of Mormon" and organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A large group of Mormons embarked from Old Slip on the ship Brooklyn en route to California in 1846. This installation was organized by the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation.
 Photo courtesy of the artist and the Public Art Fund |
Masters of the Universe: Screen Version Left: Richard Deacon |
Richard Deacon is widely regarded as one of the foremost sculptors of our time, best known for creating abstract works that combine biomorphic, open forms and virtuoso engineering. Since the outset of his career in the mid-1970s, Deacon has been interested in materials and their manipulation, working with both natural media and also using manufactured metals such as the industrial stainless steel of Masters of the Universe: Screen Version.
The title is a reference to constellations in the nighttime sky. In particular, the artist is interested in the way we name clusters of stars based on the two-dimensional shapes they resemble. He observes that there are an infinite number of different relationships among these stars—we just can’t see them from earth. “The title refers to the way that humans conceptualize an image in order to represent it, and that representation is mastery. It’s an illusion.”
Born in Wales in 1949, Deacon lives and works in London. He was awarded the Tate Gallery’s Turner Prize in 1987. A major exhibition of large-scale work opened this year at the Museo Artium in Spain and will travel throughout Europe. Deacon has had solo exhibitions at the Serpentine, Whitechapel and Tate Galleries in London, and was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery Liverpool in 1990.
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Well-Lit Chess Pieces |
Well-Lit Chess Pieces consists of 11 oversized chess pieces placed near the park’s chess tables, and 26 multicolored vinyl lampshades covering the park lampposts. Luminescent by day and glowing like stained glass at night, the Empire-style shades resemble those of household reading lamps.
“I’m testing the attraction people have with public spaces and how they instinctively desire to make them part of their own property,” said Kouns. “In this case I’m producing lamp covers in a reading lamp style that you would use in your living room, making the park part of your very own outdoor living area.”
Ms. Kouns has maintained a studio in Greenwich Village , near Washington Square Park , for over 20 years. Her artistic practice focuses on public art, including mural painting and projects in collaboration with children. Well Lit Chess Pieces is sponsored in part by Starbucks Neighborhood Park Grants Program, Knickerbocker Village NY, Inc., Signature Properties NY, Inc., and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
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11 Abstract Sculptures |
A series of sculpture by Jene Highstein are grouped by medium on five lawns panels in the park. Some of the groupings explore a basic sculptural form through subtle differences in texture and shape. Another panel features three of Highstein’s Tornado pieces, funnel-shaped forms in quartzite of varying surface patterns and textures. Other groupings feature objects in wood and cast iron.
Mr. Highstein (born 1942) has been exhibiting sculpture internationally since 1968. His works are in the collections of major museums, such as the Victoria and Albert, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. He has created pieces of public art for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Wanas Sculpture Park in Sweden, and Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis. He has received four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Award, and the Saint Gauden’s Award from the Cooper Union. He lives and works in New York.
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Deep Time, Cicada and Wilder |
Three sculptures by internationally renowned artist Deborah Butterfield depict life-size horses, created from scrap metal and driftwood, each unique work cast in bronze. They appear on the grassy areas of the malls, against a backdrop of classic New York skyscrapers. The sculpture is presented u pon the recommendation of the Sculpture Committee of the Fund for Park Avenue and in cooperation with Edward Thorp Gallery , New York
Ms. Butterfield, who is based in Montana , has been creating sculptures of horses since the mid-1970s. In a recently published monograph of her work, art historian Wayne L. Roosa suggests that the artist “transforms pieces of scrap metal and found wood into majestic, life-size horse sculptures that are like ancient noble archaeological remains, skeletal and grand.
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Curved Wall with Towers and Circle with Towers |
Conceptual and Minimal artist Sol LeWitt has created two site-specific artworks for Madison Square Park . Circle with Towers is a three-foot high concrete-block ring punctuated by eight towers at equal intervals. Curved Wall with Towers is an eighty-five foot long curving wall with fourteen towers placed at equal intervals. The two pieces demonstrate LeWitt’s career-long fascination with the cube as a modular unit.
LeWitt (born 1928, Hartford ) has been the subject of hundreds of solo exhibitions in museums and galleries, including: the Museum of Modern Art , New York ; The Tate Gallery, London; The Kunsthalle, Bern; and the Stedelijk, Amsterdam . His work is represented in the collection of major museums worldwide.
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Persephone |
Within yards of the gritty Brooklyn Queens Expressway, an ecological sculpture by artist Noah Baen reclines under a hawthorn tree. Persephone was installed on January 11 in Lentol Garden , a bucolic park on Graham Avenue north of Meeker Avenue in Williamsburg . Persephone is a quilt of leaves clustered within garden netting, its form recalling a sleeping figure slowly reuniting with the landscape. Named for the Greek goddess connected with the cycle of seasons, Persephone will sleep under her tree through the winter, spring, summer and into fall. As the seasons progress, the natural processes of growth and decay will gradually break down the leaves. Seeds, gathered with the leaves or blown in, may sprout, causing plants to grow up through the sculpture. Eventually, fall will return and another year's withered leaves will descend upon Persephone.
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Speechless I-IV and Caracalla |
Five massive wrought-iron figures by Spanish sculptor Francisco Leiro grace the steps of Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. These roughly-hewn, powerful images have their roots in the Galician sculpture of the artist's Spanish heritage. To these basic human forms Leiro adds abstract elements and surrealistic flourishes, expanding the works' narrative possibilities.
The exhibition was organized by the Instituto Cervantes, a nonprofit arm of the Spanish government that promotes Spanish culture internationally, in collaboration with the Friends of Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, and with the support of Marlborough Gallery and The Consulate General of Spain in New York.
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Totems |
"Totems,” six cast bronze sculptures at midtown’s Bryant Park, are the creation of music icon and visual artist Herb Alpert (b. 1935). A legendary trumpet player, Alpert is renowned worldwide for his extraordinary career with the Tijuana Brass, as a solo jazz and pop artist, and as co-founder of A&M Records. His career as a visual artist has paralleled his life in music for over three decades. His “Totems” were inspired by the art of Native Americans.
“The tribes of Indians who lived in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska created a new language of art that I related to,” Alpert said. The art making process, he says, is “like jazz. Art is a feel. I like to journey into the world where words don’t exist.”
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Tulips
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Tulips , a 12 feet high, painted aluminum sculpture of three red and white tulips, is the first public art installation in Brooklyn Bridge Park .
“Tulips are my passion and red is my color,” said Edwina Sandys, the artist.
Ms. Sandys (pronounced "Sands") was born in England and now lives in New York City . Her work focuses on social issues affecting children, family, war and peace, women, and the environment. The United Nations has installed five of her monumental sculptures at their Centers around the world including “Child” at the United Nations International School on FDR Drive .
Sandys is known for her use of positive and negative cutout motif. Breakthrough, a major piece constructed from eight massive sections of the Berlin Wall, features male and female forms cut out from the wall's concrete surface. Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa and Margaret Thatcher have all walked through the openings in the wall. Sandys is represented in numerous private, corporate and museum collections. The lifesize “Marriage Bed” is on display on the fourth floor at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She is the recipient of the 1997 United Nations Society of Writers & Artists Award for Excellence.
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Poland on the Front Page |
This exhibition marks the 25th anniversary of the Polish Solidarity movement. In the autumn of 1980, the Gdansk shipyard agreements between representatives of Polish society and the Communist government legalized the first self-governing trade union in the Soviet Bloc. This set in motion the processes that ultimately led to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of Communism, and the end of the Cold War.
The exhibition features reproductions of newspaper front pages and magazine covers of major American media from the decade between 1979 and 1989. Through their blend of bold headlines and dramatic photographs, these media images highlight a turning point in world history as seen through American eyes.
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A Can for All Seasons |
A project of the Public Art Fund, Alejandro Diaz's A Can for All Seasons celebrates the overlap between art and everyday life. Inspired by the practice in rural households of growing plants in empty grocery-store cans, he has created four sculptural reproductions of brand-name canned goods, each representing a different type of food that is indigenous to Mexico: corn, chiles, chocolate, and tomatoes. Enlarging them to the size of outdoor street planters, Diaz affectionately observes and celebrates the practice of "making do," of using something on hand to create an aesthetic object. By transforming a small, private act of home improvement into a public gesture, he also plays off of the tradition of social sculpture, with its emphasis on using art to reconsider the world we live in.
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The Tile Project, Destination: The World |
The Tile Project, Destination: The World is an international arts project currently being exhibited in 23 locations around the world, from Azerbaijian to Vietnam. The exhibition includes 120 four-inch tiles designed by 120 artists from forty countries. The tiles on view represent a diversity of artistic styles and approaches to materials. Participating artists created tiles in ceramic, glass, and metal and applied imagery using hand-painted glazes, photography and digital imagery, and three-dimensional molding to create small works that come together to form a larger international art collaboration. Mounted to the fence surrounding the park in back-to-back sections, the tiles can be viewed from the street and from inside the park. The project was organized by TransCultural Exchange, with support from UNESCO and other international partners. For more information about the project, including a complete list of artists, visit the TransCultural Exchange website.
Animals, Buildings, Cars and People |
With nine installations in and around City Hall Park, this exhibition of sculptures by contemporary British artist Julian Opie will be the artist’s most comprehensive U.S. solo show to date, featuring new commissions alongside some of his most iconic works. Succinct and colorful, Opie’s graphic depictions of modern life portray the familiar physical world, from fashion models to farm animals, from skyscrapers to village churches. Opie distills his images from the world around him, rendering them in the universally recognizable style of commercial graphics. He reduces the thing at hand to its most essential lines and color planes. The resulting images—straightforward pictograms with bold lines, clean edges, and bright surfaces—read as clearly as traffic signs. Animals, Buildings, Cars and People was organized by Public Art Fund and sponsored by Forest City Ratner Companies.
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Down the Garden Path: Left:Anissa Mack and Dave McKenzie, It's a Small Float..., 2005, proposal image; courtesy of the artist. |
Organized by the Queens Museum of Art, Down the Garden Path explores gardens as metaphors or points of departure to understand history, politics, and our relationship to nature. Complementing the indoor exhibition at the museum, artists Lonnie Graham, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Ghada Amer, Brian Tolle, and Diana Balmori, and Anissa Mack and Dave McKenzie will install five new works in the open spaces adjacent to the museum in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the nearby Queens Botanical Garden.
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Three Bronze Sculptures |
Three figurative bronze sculptures by French sculpture Rene Letourneur (1898 - 1995) now on view in Union Square Park include Au Soleil (1978), Les Trois Figures (1974-1978), and Harmonie II (1975). Letourneur was a member of the French resistance in World Wars I and II; later much of his work consisted of public art commissions. The exhibition is made possible by the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Partnership.
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Her Long Black Hair |
A production of the Public Art Fund, Janet Cardiff's Her Long Black Hair is a 35-minute journey that takes each listener on a winding journey through Central Park's 19th-century pathways, retracing the footsteps of an enigmatic dark-haired woman. Relayed in a quasi-narrative style, Her Long Black Hair is a complex investigation of location, time, sound, and physicality, interweaving stream-of-consciousness observations with fact and fiction, local history, opera and gospel music, and other atmospheric and cultural elements.
Each person receives an audio kit that contains a CD player with headphones as well as a packet of photographs. As Cardiff's voice on the audio soundtrack guides listeners through the park, they are occasionally prompted to pull out and view one of the photographs. These images link the speaker and the listener within their shared physical surroundings of Central Park.
Her Long Black Hair is sponsored by Bloomberg LP with additional support from the James Family Foundation.
The audio kit for Her Long Black Hair is available at a kiosk at 59th Street and Sixth Avenue, Thursday through Sunday, 10:00am to 3:30pm. Viewers will be asked to leave a drivers license or credit card in exchange for the audio equipment and should allow at least one hour for the walk. For more information, visit the Public Art Fund website.
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V W X Yellow Elephant Underwear / |
Japanese artist Chinatsu Ban (born 1973) creates acrylic paintings and sketches of elephants and human figures that float on a blank rice-paper background or in front of candy-colored stripes. V W X Yellow Elephant Underwear / H I J Kiddy Elephant Underwear is Ban's first foray into sculpture. For the artist elephants represent peace and safety, dating back to a small elephant figurine she owned as a child.
Cuteness is an obsession for Ban. The Japanese word for cute is “kawaii” and the word has taken on tremendous cultural resonance in recent decades; the Japanese teen magazine Crea noted that kawaii is “the most widely used, widely loved, habitual word in modern living Japanese. From Hello Kitty to the pop duo Puffy AmiYumi, Japanese contemporary culture is satured with things kawaii. Anything can be made cute, even, in this case, a pile of elephant poop.
This installation was organized by the Public Art Fund and the Japan Society, as part of an exhibition curated by Takashi Murakami called Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture.
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Horizontal Wedge |
Park Avenue is graced by renowned sculptor Beverly Pepper’s mighty Horizontal Wedge (1991), which features a sheet of weathered steel held aloft by a two-part steel pedestal.
Ms. Pepper is a native New Yorker. In the past decade, she has installed site-specific environments and monumental sculpture in Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Lithuania, along with traveling shows across Europe and the U.S. Her sculpture, widely exhibited in the public realm since the 1960s, has included a 1983 installation in Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park . She has had solo exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, Forte Belvedere in Florence, Italy, and the Palais Royal in Paris and Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ . Her sculpture is in public collections around the world, including those of the Walker Art Center, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the Florence Museum of Art, and the Barcelona Museum of Modern Art.
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The Gates, Central Park By Christo & Jeanne-Claude February 12-27, 2005 The Gates transformed Central Park with 7,500 16-foot tall free-hanging, saffron-colored fabric panels lining the Park's walkways. • Video of the unfurling: broadband | dial up • 360° Panoramic images • Find out more about The Gates |
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Tom Otterness on Broadway |
Tom Otterness on Broadway, an exhibition of 25 bronze sculptures by New York sculptor Tom Otterness stretching from Columbus Circle to Washington Heights, represents the first large display of temporary public art on the Broadway Malls, the landscaped medians on Broadway from 60 th to 168 th Street. Considered one of the premier public artists working in the United States, Tom Otterness has exhibited widely and completed commissions in North America and abroad. His stylized bronze figures combine into sculptural ensembles that explore the range of human experience, from grand ambition to common foibles, plucking imagery and themes from popular culture and subtly transforming them into humorous commentary. Tom Otterness on Broadway is a collaboration of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, The Broadway Mall Association, Marlborough Gallery and Tom Otterness Studio.
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Perfect Vehicles |
Public Art Fund presents three new Perfect Vehicles at the southeast corner of Central Park. This will be the first time in more than a decade that McCollum has made new works in this iconic sculptural series, and it will also be the artist’s first-ever outdoor exhibition in New York. McCollum, who came to the art world’s attention with his Surrogate Paintings of the late 1970s, has continued to create wide-ranging conceptual artworks that deftly examine the nature of art and other culturally valued objects, the practice of museum display, and the relationship between originals and copies. Installed at the southeast entrance to Central Park, McCollum’s Perfect Vehicles will form an unlikely counterpart to the more traditional statuary at nearby Grand Army Plaza and elsewhere throughout the park. More information available at www.publicartfund.org.
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Aesope's Fables - Beyond Double Tetrahedron |
Marking the fifth year of Mad Square Art, a program of the Madison Square Park Conservancy, three monumental sculptures by the internationally renowned sculptor Mark di Suvero will be on view in Madison Square Park. The three sculptures on view demonstrate the expressive range of di Suvero's epic steel constructions, from the classically vertical Double Tetrahedron to the organic forms in Beyond. A force in contemporary sculpture since the 1950's, di Suvero is one of the most important American artists to have emerged from the Abstract Expressionist era. His sculptures have been exhibited in citywide exhibitions in Paris, Venice and Stuttgart and his works are in the collections of museums in the U.S. and abroad.
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Refuge |
Standing at the intersection of Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas, Leonard Ursachi’s Refuge, a bunker-shaped structure enveloped in white feathers, is a study in contrasts. Located at the border of Lower Manhattan, this seemingly fragile structure will stand out from a high traffic setting and will invite passersby to escape for a moment from the hectic urban streetscape. “Every border has its bunkers—physical and psychological—reminding us where it is we belong,” said Ursachi. “My bunker projects, with their twin references to war and home, address the complexities inherent in the creation and maintenance of identity.” Refuge has no entrance, and in lieu of windows, there are two recessed, sky-blue mirrors. One can only imagine the interior—the artist wants visitors to Duarte Square to be confronted by their own reflection in the mirrored windows as they approach the artwork. It is through this reflective imagining that Ursachi challenges viewers to rethink their environment and to find their own personal refuge in the artwork.
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Relationship-Connection, I Love You#1, L.O.V.E. #2 |
Located along John Finley Walk at 86th Street, Dorothy Frankel's bronze sculptures depict human hands "speaking" the words for love and connection in sign language. The three works are part of a larger series of work based on sign language that Dorothy Frankel completed in recent years. Slightly larger than life, the sculptures are modeled in terra cotta from a life model and then cast in bronze. "The hand gestures of these sculptures represent a form of visual poetry and communicate powerful and positive images of the human condition," said Frankel, who lives and works in Sag Harbor, New York. Reflecting Frankel's interest in surface color and texture, the patinas range from earthy red to dark green, and the bronze castings capture the imprint of the artist's hands.
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Confesiones desde el Vientre (Confessions from the Womb) |
Located at the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue, 83rd Street and Baxter Avenue in Queens, Lina Puerta’s first foray into the field of public art pays tribute to the powerful life stories of immigrant women from Central and South America. Confesiones desde el Veintre, which translates as “confessions from the womb,” originated from Puerta’s interviews with twelve women she met while teaching ceramics workshops at non-profit community organizations in Jackson Heights, Queens. Nestled in a busy triangle park adjacent to the elevated 7 train, Puerta’s seven teardrop-shaped sculptures will be lifted into the canopy of trees on 15-foot poles. Sewn from colorful synthetic fabric, the sculptures cradle small figures within blue plastic mesh. Each sculpture is further adorned with designs inspired by pre-Columbian symbols of power and other elements making specific reference to each woman’s story.
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Joint Point (Displacement), 2004 |
Joint Point (Displacement) is a signpost that appears to have fallen from the sky. At the core of the project is the notion that in a globalized network, every place is the center of the world; there is no place that is isolated. That Romo flew to New York from Mexico to create this public sculpture for Jamaica Flux is evidence of how closely connected the world is - fitting for an exhibition that is about connecting people in Jamaica with those who are living in other parts of New York City and elsewhere. This sculpture and a sound project by Tracie Morris were exhibited in King Manor in King Park, between 152nd and 153rd Street on Jamaica Avenue, as part of Jamaica Flux: Workspaces & Windows. For more information about this multi-disciplinary, indoor/outdoor collaborative project in art and non-art spaces along Jamaica Avenue, visit the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning website.
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Freedom of Expression National Monument |
“You are cordially invited to step up and speak up,” reads the plaque adorning Freedom of Expression National Monument, a public artwork by architect Laurie Hawkinson, performer John Malpede, and visual artist Erika Rothenberg, presented by Creative Time and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Nestled between the bustling federal, state, and city courthouses, Freedom will provide a platform for people to speak their minds. The project was originally installed in 1984 for Art on the Beach (1978-1985), Creative Time’s annual program that featured collaborations between architects, performers, and visual artists on the Battery Park City Landfill created by the construction of the World Trade Center. The piece captured the imagination and quickly became one of New York’s most cherished artworks. For more information about the project and events at the site, visit the Creative Time website.
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Indeterminate Lines |
Photo: Three Indeterminate Lines, 2003
(South side of 54th Street)
Bernar Venet
Studio Archives
The first outdoor exhibition of Venet's work in New York City, this exhibition features works from the artist's "Indeterminate Line" series. Venet's sculpture has been exhibited in major cities in the United States, Asia, Europe and South America. The artist first began producing monumental linear improvisations in steel in the early 1980s and these "Indeterminate Lines" are considered by many to be his trademark work. The works to be exhibited on Park Avenue are made of cor-ten steel and stand 9 feet high and range from 12 to 15 feet long. Using a technique that has been described as Action Sculpture in slow motion, Venet carefully balances his vision for the material with the steel's natural responses to the warping effects of pressure and heat. Presented in cooperation with the Sculpture Committee of The Fund for Park Avenue.
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Roy Lichtenstein at City Hall |
"Roy Lichtenstein at City Hall" includes four sculptures: Element #E in Tweed Courthouse, Woman: Sunlight, Moonlight in the lobby of City Hall, and Brushstroke Group and Endless Drip in City Hall Park. Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) was an important New York artist and a central figure in the emergence of Pop Art in the 1960's. Although best known for his paintings, Lichtenstein was also a prolific sculptor, and in the 1980's he began making monumental brushstroke sculptures. Brushstroke Group, Endless Drip and his other sculptures from this period capture the movement and color of painting on a grand scale. "'Roy Lichtenstein at City Hall' is a part of our ongoing effort to bring contemporary art to the City's parks, public spaces and treasured landmarks," said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "I hope this exhibition will attract New Yorkers and visitors from around the world to Lower Manhattan." The exhibition was a result of a collaboration between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Public Art Fund.
Visit the Public Art Fund website for more information.
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Gondwana, for Richard Bellamy |
In Gondwana, for Richard Bellamy, Darrell Petit has gently manipulated Stony Creek Granite and American Oak into a sculpture that complements the natural landscape of Riverside Park. As the artist-in-residence at the Stony Creek Granite Quarry in Connecticut, Petit embraces the geological processes that created the granite and pushes those processes one step further using heat and splitting dowels. The title Gondwana refers to an ancient geologic time when the landmass that is now Connecticut was attached to the African continent, highlighting the permanence and geologic origins of the stone. Gondwana is a tribute in stone to Richard Bellamy, the art dealer who was instrumental in introducing Petit and now-famous artists such as Mark di Suvero, Donald Judd, and James Rosenquist, early in their artistic careers.
Mercury
By Franz West
Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Manhattan
June 7 - August 31, 2004
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Mercury Franz West |
Public Art Fund presents the first major outdoor survey of sculpture by Austrian artist Franz West at Lincoln Center and at Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park, where two works from the artist's "Mercury" series are on view. The title is a galaxy-themed reference to West's previous work, Moon Project, a group of furniture pieces he exhibited in The Museum of Modern Art's sculpture garden in 1997. With their long, low-lying bodies and irregular bumpy appendages, the works function both as public art and outdoor furniture, providing a variety of seats and perches for passersby. Franz West lives and works in Vienna, where he was born in 1947. He has exhibited internationally for more than three decades in galleries and museums, and at major festivals. Additional information is available on the Public Art Fund website.
Her Long Black Hair
By Janet Cardiff
Central Park, Manhattan
June 17-September 13, 2004
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Her Long Black Hair |
Public Art Fund presents a new audio walk for Central Park by internationally acclaimed artist Janet Cardiff. Cardiff's first-ever outdoor work in New York, "Her Long Black Hair," a 35-minute journey that begins at Central Park South, transforms an everyday stroll in the park into an enthralling psychological and physical experience. Like Cardiff's previous walks — which she has created for libraries, gardens, forests, museums, and city streets — "Her Long Black Hair" guides listeners on a site-specific walk, weaving Central Park's historic landmarks, from Balto to the Bandshell, into the fabric of its soundtrack of spoken words and sound effects. Additional information is available on the Public Art Fund website.
View details and the schedule for "Her Long Black Hair".
Entrance to a Garden
by Dennis Oppenheim
Tramway Plaza
Second Ave beween East 59th and East 60th Streets, Manhattan
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Entrance to a Garden Dennis Oppenheim |
May to August, 2004
Fusing architecture and fashion with art, Dennis Oppenheim's monumental "Entrance to a Garden" depicts an abstracted shirt - complete with a tie and lapels - in steel and perforated galvanized mesh. The tunnel bisects the center of the 25-foot sculpture, allowing commuters and passersby to walk through the artwork. After this New York debut, the sculpture will be installed in Genoa, Italy in October 2004, where the tunnel will lead viewers into a lush garden. Previous outdoor installations of Dennis Oppenheim's sculpture in New York include Tar Roses at Bryant Park in 2000 and Engagement at 23rd Street and Broadway in 1988.
Read the press release for this exhibit.
Splendid Step
By Zigi Ben-Haim
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
Second Avenue at East 47th Street, Manhattan
November 19, 2003 to May 2004
Extended to August 25, 2004
"My Splendid Step represents the small steps that eventually make a difference," said Zigi Ben-Haim about his sculpture currently on view at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. According to the artist, the sculpture is a reflection of his own multi-cultural experience, and the variety of materials used are like layers of different cultures, each adapting to the other to survive. The artist was particularly drawn to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on the corner of Second Avenue and East 47th Street for its proximity to the United Nations. The 13-foot sculpture is constructed of painted aluminum, steel mesh and cast stone. Zigi Ben-Haim was born in Baghdad in 1945, and studied art in Israel and the United States. Ben-Haim's work is represented by the Stefan Stux gallery in New York and has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Israel.
Read the press release for this exhibit.
Beyond
Metamorphosis
By Victor Matthews
Battery Park, Manhattan
June 7 to June 20, 2004
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Beyond
Metamorphosis |
Spanning across the park's three-acre lawn, Victor Matthews will constuct a grid of nearly 3,000 umbrellas, each individually hand-painted with a rendering of a Monarch butterfly. In his studio, the artist painted the butterfly image directly onto cotton canvas umbrellas using black, orange, and yellow water-based colors. Whether viewed from near or afar, the umbrellas will create a stunning and vibrant impression of a migrating fluttter of flame-colored butterflies. "The piece explores themes of transformation, migration and regeneration," says Matthews. "Butterflies make an obvious spiritual gesture that's often overlooked: of a life that never ends and a spirit that never dies". The exhibition is fiscally sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC).
Visit the artist's
website
for more information.
Read the press
release for this exhibit.
2004
Whitney Biennial
Various artists
Locations throughout Central Park, Manhattan
March 10 - May 30, 2004
Public Art Fund and the Whitney Museum of American Art present works by 7 artists in Central Park in conjunction with the 2004 Whitney Biennial. The exhibition includes nine installations by seven artists throughout the entire length of Central Park, from 60th Street to 110th Street. Building upon the outdoor presentation of Biennial works in 2002, this year's show includes artists' site-specific reactions to the park as well as several sculptural projects that were conceived independently of location.
Read a Daily
Plant article about the exhibition.
Street
Crossing
By George Segal
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Detail,
Street Crossing |
Fifth Avenue & 60th Street, Manhattan
October 2003 to February 2004
Street Crossing, presented by Public Art Fund, was made by George Segal in 1992. The sculpture consists of seven figures in the act of moving through a fictional crossroads. The scattered figures seem blind to one another and to their surroundings. Segal had a particular ability to elevate mundane day-to-day activities into a lyrical or elegiac display, depicting his subjects with their guard down and in a naturalistic stance. In the early 1960's, he became known for making works in plaster, which he created by covering his subjects entirely in dry plaster bandages. He began working in bronze in the 1970's, and his works in this medium, including Street Crossing, retain the rough-hewn textre of his familiar plaster cast technique. In addition to this temporary presentation of Street Crossing, there are two sculptures by George Segal in New York's public spaces, both of which are on permanent view: Gay Liberation (1980) at Sheridan Square and The Commuters, Next Departure (1981) at Port Authority Terminal.
Visit the Public Art Fund website for more information.
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Air Has No Residence |
Sacred
Waterways
By various artists
Riverside Park South, Manhattan
October 4, 2003 to October 16, 2003
Sacred Waterways, an exhibition of three site-specific artworks, celebrates New York's waterways and explores the importance of water in spiritual myths, theology, and the rites of many religious traditions. From the Yoruba of Africa to the ancient Zoroastrians, water is evoked in sacred practice as a purifying force, a carrier of messages, and the creator. Nancy Bowen's "Water Experiences" are fountains made of glazed porcelain and steel. Lesley Dill's contribution, "Air Has No Residence;" consists of floating text from an Emily Dickinson poem translated into Hindi. Kelly Kaczynski created a map of Manhattan, which floats on the water's surface. The exhibition was organized by The Interfaith Center of New York.
View all three artworks from Sacred Waterways
Life Signs
By
Stanford Kay
Union Square, Manhattan
September 8, 2003 to November 15, 2003
The ten signs that make up Stanford Kay's Life Signs project resemble roadside warning signs. A closer look, however, reveals that the signs are of a completely different nature. Intended to subvert the authoritative messages delivered by traditional signage, Kay's Life Signs avoid the "look out!" tone of warning signs and invite the viewer to contemplate scenes of casual social intimacy. The images, consisting of black silhouetted figures against a light green background, depict scenes ranging from the touching to the mundane - a mother kneels to zip a child's jacket, backpack laden students stop for a chat, a couple exchanges a kiss. The artist hopes the signs will spur passersby to be more aware of the small moments of tenderness that play out all around us, yet are easily overlooked in the rush and stress of city life.
Read
the press release for Life Signs
Four
Sculptures
By Jean Dubuffet
Park Avenue Malls between
54th & 57th Streets, Manhattan
September 20, 2003 to November
14, 2003
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Rédingoton |
The current exhibitions of Jean Dubuffet sculptures
on Park Avenue includes Rédingoton
at 54th Street, Tour
aux scriptions at 55th
Street,