All Photos By Gail
Even in the steady drizzle that fell over Central Park on the day I snapped these photos, Monira Al Qadiri’s new public art sculpture First Sun looked radiant. Installed at Doris C. Freedman Plaza at the park’s southeast entrance, the 17-foot-tall work commands the space with an otherworldly presence that feels both ancient and futuristic.
Continue reading First Sun By Monira Al Qadiri Radiates at Doris C. Freedman Plaza
All Photos by Gail Worley
Bharti Kher (b. 1969, London, UK) connects New Delhi and New York with this nearly 18 foot tall bronze Universal Mother figure, entitled Ancestor (2022) which is her most ambitious artwork today. Its source is a miniature statue from the artist’s “intermediaries“ series, assembled by recomposing broken clay figurines. Kher finds these small objects in secondhand markets in India, where she moved in 1992 after being raised and educated in the United Kingdom. Continue reading Bharti Kher’s Ancestor in Doris C. Freedman Plaza
All Photos By Gail
Gilded monuments and bronze statues evoke the public art of a bygone era, though we’ve recently been reminded of the potent symbolic value they still hold. Artist Gillian Wearing (b. 1963, Birmingham, England) has been fascinated by these sculptures since childhood. For her, there’s something uncanny about a human form that appears immovable and changeless in a public setting. Wearing has alwasy made art about people, usually presented in unexpected ways, in photography, video, and more recently, sculpture.
Continue reading Statue of Diane Arbus in Doris C. Freedman Plaza
Bodega Chandelier, Manhattan Location on Avenue A Between 5th and 6th Streets (Photos By Gail)
If you’re a NYC resident who likes to ‘get your steps in’ by exploring neighborhoods both new and familiar, here’s a Street Art Safari that you can participate in whether you live in Manhattan, Brooklyn or Queens! Back and Forth Disco is an exhibition of newly-commissioned photographs by Farah Al Qasimi (b. 1991 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) that celebrate individuality and the aesthetic choices that make spaces and surroundings uniquely personal.
Continue reading Public Art Fund Presents Farah Al Qasimi’s Back and Forth Disco
All Photos By Gail
Cuban American Geometrical Abstract painter Carmen Herrera (b. 1915, Havana) waited a very long time to get her hard-earned props from the art world. The artist’s first career retrospective, 2016– 2017 Lines Of Sight at New York City’s Whitney Museum finally provided a showcase for her minimalist, color field paintings, alongside a selection of her geometric, monochromatic sculptures — which she simply calls Estructuras (Structures). While it’s disappointing to realize that, at 104 years of age, Carmen Herrera isn’t quite a household name, the NYC-based Public Art Fund is doing its part to expose her works to a wider audience by sponsoring Estructuras Monumentales, Herrera’s first major exhibition of outdoor sculptures, which are currently on view in City Hall Park. This park is a short walk from my office, to so I walked over on my lunch hour to check it out. Continue reading Carmen Herrera Estructuras Monumentales in City Hall Park