Martin Puryear’s Big Bling at Madison Square Park

Martin Puryear’s huge wooden structure, sheathed in chain-link fencing and capped with a gold-leafed shackle, towers over Madison Square Park’s main lawn like a seated animal. Its shape echoes the Phrygian cap, associated with French revolutionaries and freedom and explored recently by the artist, and is topped off with a gorgeously gleaming shackle – a gilded symbol of servitude. (At Madison Square Park through January 8th, 2017).

Martin Puryear, Big Bling, installation view in Madison Square Park, 2016.
Martin Puryear, Big Bling, installation view in Madison Square Park, 2016.