Public Art Alert! Lightness of Being Sculptures in City Hall Park
Even residents of nearby Glenwood buildings–Tribeca Bridge Tower, Liberty Plaza, and across-the-street Barclay Tower–are unlikely to make City Hall Park a part of their regular rounds. It's more of a lunch spot for area workers, and tourists love posing for pictures in front of the ornate fountain. But maybe that should change?
City Hall Park, you see, in addition to always being surprisingly pleasant, has also played host to a nice run of crowd-pleasing public art exhibitions over the last few years, and this latest installation, Lightness of Being, is no exception.
Skewing Expectations and Tricking the Eye
Featuring a dozen playful pieces from around the world, Lightness of Being is all about skewing our expectations and tricking the eye, as the eleven different artists on display here mess around with with scale, form, mass, and material. The most obvious instance of this is James Angus's delightful, semi-squashed John Deere Model D, shown above, an exact replica of the iconic vehicle… if said vehicle had somehow been photoshopped in the real world. Polish artist Alicja Kwade does something similar with her Journey Without Arrival, a bicycle turned in on itself (which, admittedly, also evokes some sort of grim accident).
The Artist Behind The Sculptures
Swiss art star Olaf Breuning has a piece here in City Hall Park called The Humans, which is really six pieces, each one a whimsical take on a made-up mythological creature. Daniel Buren's Suncatcher is sure to prompt plenty of photo-ops; when the light hits it right, the scupture projects a colorful patchwork pattern onto whatever (and whomever) is in its path. And there's my personal favorite, David Shrigley's Metal Flip Flops, which looks and feels exactly like what you think they'd look and feel like, in the artist's size 13, and installed into the pavement. If you live in the area and are looking for an excursion this summer, grab an ice cream cone or something and come to City Hall Park for stroll, a sit, and some cool art.
More Information: Public Art Fund's Lightness of Being
The Public Art Fund's Lightness of Being show will be at City Hall Park through December 13. You can find lots more information about the artists, their work, and the exhibition on the Public Art Fund website.
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