Known for semi-abstract and often small-scale sculpture including the ‘Lynch Fragments’ series recently on view at the New Museum, Melvin Edwards takes over the south entrance to City Hall Park via Public Art Fund with this large-scale sculpture depicting broken chains. Titled ‘Brighter Days’ the exhibition’s curving minimal forms enhances the attractiveness of the message displayed – freedom from bondage. (On view through Nov 28th).
Carmen Herrera’s longevity as an artist continues to amaze; the informational texts for her installation of boldly colored abstract sculptures at City Hall Park declare her age (104) in the first line before going on to comment on the artwork. In the 50s and beyond, Herrera was in the center of New York’s art world and at its margins, making artwork in conversation with the developing language of abstraction but underappreciated because of her gender and lacking funding to realize her plans for boldly colored sculpture. Installed in the park, her architectural forms are in the company of landmarks including City Hall and the Woolworth Building. Here, they speak to Herrera’s personal and political concerns, from a piece memorializing her late brother to a sculpture constructed of two interlocking forms that nod to Cuban/American relations. (On view downtown at City Hall Park via the Public Art Fund through Nov 8th).
Amsterdam and Berlin-based artist Katja Novitskova juxtaposes the celestial and terrestrial realms with large aluminum sculptures featuring images of the earth (created with compiling satellite data) paired with shots of worms, lizards, bacteria and more. With their scale altered, the earthly creatures look otherworldly; Novitskova uses this disorientation as a reminder that though easily overlooked, the smallest organisms can make a big impact. (Presented by the Public Art Fund. On view at City Hall Park through Nov 9th).
David Shrigley explores a new side of the banal with his monumental stone ‘Memorial,’ a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the short-lived usefulness of the shipping list. (Presented by the Public Art Fund at the entrance to Central Park at 60th Street and Fifth Ave, through Feb 12th).
Since lifting it from the bulletin board of a Thai ceramic factory 30 years ago, Swiss artists Fischli and Weiss have reproduced this motivational list in different locations and formats over the years, most recently installing it on Houston Street in Manhattan. From the simple instruction to ‘do one thing at a time’ to the more profound challenge to ‘distinguish sense from nonsense,’ the advice encapsulates the artists’ credo to ask questions and embrace the absurd. (On Houston St at Mott Street through May 1st. For more info, see Public Art Fund or visit the artists’ retrospective at the Guggenheim.)
