LA sculptor Evan Holloway uses one of art history’s most iconic artworks, a 4.5 inch high fertility goddess from approximately 22-24,000 BC, as decorative inspiration for a huge, slender bronze ring in City Hall Park. The shifts between a tiny but fulsome female on a huge but slim ring are provocative and amusing; you’ll also get a rare glimpse of the sculpture’s back view. (Through December 13th).
Evan Holloway, ‘Willendorf Wheel,’ bronze, 2013.
One of the city’s best exhibitions of the moment isn’t in a gallery…the Public Art Fund’s exhibition ‘Lightness of Being’ at City Hall Park brings together an outstanding array of sculpture that surprises with its materials, sizes or concepts. This week, we’ll check it out, starting with this distorted tractor by Australian-American artist James Angus, which not only looks odd in its über urban environment, but is given another twist by digital distortions in the manufacturing process. (Through December 13th).
James Angus, ‘John Deere Model D,’ painted steel, painted cast iron, 2013.
Brooklyn-based artist Orly Genger is known for sculpture and installations involving knitting, but she outdoes herself in Madison Square Park with an installation made by knotting 1.4 million feet of nautical rope collected on the East coast and arranged in undulating waves around the park’s trees. (Though Sept 8th).
Orly Genger, ‘Red, Yellow and Blue,’ installation view at Madison Square Park, nautical rope & paint, July 2013.
The roughly cut blocks of Allyson Vieira’s sculptures resemble the caryatids of Greek architecture but in an updated, futuristic way. We enjoyed versions made with drywall at Laurel Gitlen Gallery on last March’s Lower East Side tour, but it’s perfect to see them outdoors in proximity to a Greek-style façade at Brooklyn’s Metro Tech Center. (Through Sept 16th).
Allyson Vieira, ‘Weight Bearing V, Weight Bearing VI, Weight Bearing VII,’ 2012.
As New York galleries take a break in the final weeks of summer, New York Art Tours heads to the city’s parks and public places to enjoy our lively public art scene. Here’s a sculpture that several of you mentioned when we toured Jeff Koons’ show of giant balloon dog sculptures this spring. Koons’ ‘Balloon Flower’ outside of 7 WTC in downtown Manhattan is a hit with kids on this sunny summer day.
Jeff Koons, Balloon Flower, mirror polish stainless steel with transparent color, installation view in park of 7 WTC, July 2013.
