art in the parks | The Worley Gig

All Photos By Gail

A couple of weeks ago, Geoffrey and I made the upper Mnahattan pilgrimage to The Cloisters to see the second half of The Met’s Heavenly Bodies costume exhibit, and we were not disappointed. A bonus of the trip is that, as we rode the bus from the subway up to the top of the hill – because who wants to walk in this heat? – I noticed what looked like life-size Knights in Armor scattered about the lawn, and decided that we must check that shit out on our way back to the train. And check it out we did.

It turns out that the Armored Knights, and their alien-looking, silvery Nude companions, part of an installation, Armors, which was created by Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. Back home, the artist is known for the androgynous figures she’s placed at iconic landmarks across the globe, including in Reykjavík outside Hallgrímskirkja church and, back in 2011 at NYC’s Hammarskjöld Plaza near Second Avenue.

Armors is made up of three pairs of figures, each featuring a Knight — whose armor replicates a piece of 16th century armor found in gallery 317 at The Met – who is facing or interacting with one of Thorarinsdottir’s nude figures. The Knights were 3D scanned and then manufactured out of aluminum. Thorarinsdottir modeled each nude figure as a direct response to each distinct suit of armor, and all six were then brought to the Cloisters Lawn.

Knight Photographed with Random Cosplaying Child

In a statement about the work, Thorarinsdottir offers that, “Ancient armors are in themselves sculptural forms. They were developed for war but they give a sharp insight into the psyche of man. I wanted to merge medieval armors and ageless, androgynous figures in a way that would speak to the human condition today and in the past.”

Armors was created in collaboration with NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program, and can be found in Fort Tryon Park, on the great lawn just downhill from the Cloisters. Get your medieval selfies through September 13th, 2018.

All Photos By Gail

I first noticed the Rose Crystal Tower, a new public art installation from globally famous glass artist Dale Chihuly, as I rode past it while I was on the 14th Street bus. The eye-catching pink sculpture was unveiled on October 6th, 2017 and will stay up for one full year, as part of the NYC Parks’ program Art in the Parks (which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year). Art in the Parks is responsible for many notable works of art in public green spaces around the city, including the OY/YO installation in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

While it maintains a semi-translucent quality, the Rose Crystal Tower is not actually made of glass, but rather is composed of Polyvitro crystals and steel. According to an announcement from the Parks Department, Polyvitro is “the artist’s term for a plastic material which he casts into individual chunks which resemble glass, but are lighter and more resilient.” There is a similar sculpture at the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle, and you can see a bit of that piece in this photo, which I took when I was there several years ago.

I have walked by the Rose Crystal Tower a few times and have taken photos of it from many different angles and in different lighting. It is always gorgeous.

Check out the difference in the way the individual crystal groupings look in the daytime, as compared with how it looks at night, in the shots above and below.

Detail of the Sculpture at Night

Here are more nighttime shots, where you can really apreciate the interior illumination.

Chihuly’s Rose Crystal Tower is located on the east side of Union Square Park, on the traffic triangle at 15th Street and Park Avenue South. The work will be on display through October 2018, so you have lots of time to see it.