It seems there’s always something new to discover in and around Freeman Alley, the Lower East Side’s ever-changing street art mecca. On the day after the Fourth of July, with the summer heat still hanging over the city, I spotted this oversized Pink Buddha mural on Rivington Street, just a few steps from the alley itself. Despite looking carefully, I couldn’t find an artist’s tag, so perhaps one of my readers can chime in. Continue reading Pink Thing of The Day: Pink Smiling Buddha Mural→
Robert Therrien (1947 – 2019 ) was born in Chicago but made Los Angeles is home for nearly 50 years, living and creating art there. He was part of the city’s tight-knit and experimental art circles of the 1970s, contributing to the rise of fabrication as a way of making increasingly complex works. His career spans much of the recent development of art in Los Angeles, including its escalating prominence as a center of global art making. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Robert Therrien, Stacked Plates (White)→
If you’ve been in Madison Square Park lately — especially on the east side along Madison Avenue — it would be hard to miss the enormous Orange Fire Hydrant rising above the landscape near the children playground. At nearly 15 feet tall, the oversized sculpture immediately catches the eye, inviting smiles from everyone who can’t resist wondering what an ordinary piece of New York City infrastructure is doing transformed into a monumental work of art. Continue reading Roberto Lugo’s Para Los Días Caliente In Madison Square Park→
Before his passing in 2025, Joel Shapiro spent decades redefining what abstract sculpture could be. His monumental work Ark stands as a powerful example of that vision. At first glance, the sculpture appears to have been frozen in the middle of an explosion. Bold planes of red, blue, and yellow thrust outward at unexpected angles, balancing in a way that seems to defy gravity. Installed directly on the floor rather than elevated on a pedestal, the work encourages viewers to circle it and experience its constantly shifting presence. Depending on where you stand, it can suggest a vessel in motion, a collapsing structure, a child’s stack of oversized blocks, or even a figure striding through space. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Joel Shapiro, Ark→
Because the artwork changes only once every eighteen months or so, I never feel too lazy when it takes me six months to visit the latest monumental piece of public art exhibited on the High Line Plinth. I mean, it’s not going anywhere any time soon. The fourth High Line Plinth commission (I skipped covering the second one because it was so crappy), is by Colombian-born artist Iván Argote and it’s called Dinosaur (2024). Let’s take a closer look! Continue reading Dinosaur: Monumental Pigeon Statue on the High Line Plinth→
