Last week the Public Art Fund’s new exhibition at City Hall Park (Peter Coffin’s Untitled Sculpture Silhouettes), was unveiled. Currently you'll be able to find 13 monumental silhouettes of iconic artworks around the park (and miniature versions inside City Hall's lobby), including variations on Rodin’s The Thinker, Picasso’s She Goat, Michelangelo’s David, and one of Sol LeWitt’s Incomplete Open Cubes. more ›

After widespread reports last summer that Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls installation was damaging lots of nearby plantlife, the River Cafe has gone ahead with earlier threats and decided to sue New York's Public Art Fund and Eliasson to the tune of $3 million for an assortment of damages they say were brought on by their close proximity to one of the falls. Cafe owner Buzzy O'Keefe said, "There were 90 to 120 days of saltwater rain coming down on us. It ate up aluminum and steel. It short-circuited our electrics. We had fires on our roof. The paint was ruined, the awnings were ruined, our outdoor lights are broken, and a lot of our trees just couldn't take it. It's left the place destroyed. They did nothing." After initially denying that the waterfalls were causing any problems, the Public Art Fund did cut down the amount of time they were left on in half during through their run. more ›

Time for some more crazy public art! This time around "British artist Richard Woods' wall and door and roof whimsically transforms various structural elements at City Hall. Cladding the property's two security booths with a printed facade of cartoon-like red bricks." In a press release from the Public Art Fund, Mayor Bloomberg is quoted as saying the project is “cute" and "part of what makes our cultural scene so vibrant. What better canvas for Richard Woods' 'wall and door and roof' than City Hall itself." But one officer told CityRoom, “It makes us look more visible. Like that’s what I want — more visibility.” Others thought it looked like Ronald McDonald, Candy Land and the North Pole. Like it or not, it's there through September! more ›

On Friday a new Public Art Fund-organized group show opened at MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn, which will remain open through September of next year. Titled Trapdoor, the outdoor installation "features new commissions by Ethan Breckenridge, Martha Friedman and Sara Greenberger Rafferty, and recent works by Francis Cape. By using or making reference to recognizable objects whose properties are exaggerated or altered in one way or another, these artists convey an overarching sense of transition or metamorphosis in works that appear to be changing appearance, moving, disappearing or melting. In each case, there is an element of the unexpected, of things appearing delightfully out of the ordinary; as if the viewer has passed through a portal and entered into some kind of conceptual wonderland." A delicious wonderland containing giant waffles. more ›

Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg made a curious move by presenting an environmental award to the man behind the Waterfalls project, Olafur Eliasson, and the Public Art Fund, the organization that commissioned the four waterfalls that have run throughout the summer along the city's East River waterfronts. The Doris C. Freedman Award has been given annually for over 25 years to people and groups who enrich the city's environment. However, just last month, the city decided to cut down the amount of hours the falls run in half due to concerns that the spray coming from them was causing damage to nearby plant life. Bloomberg's praise of the waterfalls did not seem to relate heavily to any environmental good they have done the city, instead focusing on the economic boost they have provided as a tourist attraction and adding, "This project proclaims that New York City is home to bold visions and visionaries." more ›

The New York Times has fever also, featuring an image of the public art project that is set to flow starting tomorrow by 9 a.m. First announced in January, the project, conceived by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, involves four man-made waterfalls along the shores of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Governors Island: by the Brooklyn anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge, between Piers 4 and 5 in Brooklyn, in Lower Manhattan at Pier 35, and on the north shore of Governors Island. more ›

The East River waterfalls aren't the only thing being erected by the Public Art Fund this summer, yesterday they unveiled "What My Dad Gave Me," a sculpture of sorts by Chris Burden (whose father was an engineer). The piece is a 65-foot-tall replica of the Rockefeller Center tower made entirely out of Erector Set-esque pieces. The AP reported from the scene via video: more ›

Details have emerged on the ambitious, $15 million East River waterfalls project coming to New York in mid-July to cap off the Olafur Eliasson retrospective at MoMa. The project will consist of four man-made waterfalls, ranging 90 to 120-foot tall, installed temporarily at four sites along the shores of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Governors Island: by the Brooklyn anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge, between Piers 4 and 5 in Brooklyn, in Lower Manhattan at Pier 35, and on the north shore of Governors Island. The waterworks will flow from 7am to 10pm seven days a week, will be lit after sunset, and operate from July to October. more ›

Danish–Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson will work with the Public Art Fund – a nonprofit that brought Anish Kapoor's "Sky Mirror" and Jeff Koons's "Puppy," to Rockefeller Center – to bring freestanding waterfalls to the East River this spring. The project will be officially announced tomorrow, but a source tells the Sun that the waterfalls will rise 60 to 70 feet above the water, which is more than half as high as the Brooklyn Bridge roadway. The spectacle will be visible from the area around the Seaport and Brooklyn Heights. more ›

EVENT: Charles Ray, who is thirty years deep in the art world, will be at the New School tonight for a Public Art Fund talk. The leader of the "conceptual realism" movement with a "lively, self-deprecating sense of humor" will discuss his "virtuoso craftsmanship" and his depiction of "familiar elements of everyday life and modern art in disarmingly altered ways." more ›

We were biking down by City Hall park this afternoon and noticed they had finished installing the new Alexander Calder sculptures. They look good! Fun fact: the exhibit is organized by the Public Art Fund, but sponsored by Forest City Ratner, the company building the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. [Via NLG. Related: Calder.org has a great set of Alexander Calder images, and a biography of the artist.] more ›

Anne Pasternak,
Executive Director,
Creative Time more ›

In addition to the two great events we mentioned earlier, there are also a number of other worthwhile art happenings going on this week. Plenty in fact to satisfy even the most dedicated fine art junkie. more ›

For all the city's many joys, there is still nothing more disgusting than New York during a heat wave. It's just something about the city's distinctive olfactory blend of rotting garbage, urine, and (if we're in the vicinity) stale booze, that just makes us want to encase ourselves in an hermetically sealed white space until the temperature drops. So, as you can imagine, it takes a quite lot to tear us away from the little altar we've recently built around our air conditioning unit. However, we'll happily be whipping out the perfumed handkerchiefs and strapping on the personal cooling system this weekend for Janet Cardiff's new public art piece in Central Park. more ›

, was designed by one of artists in Murakami's stable, Chinatsu Ban. It reminds Gothamist of Louis Bourgeouis's Mommy and Baby Spiders meets Jeff Koon's Puppy. We must say, we adores the elephants in underwear. And Gothamist loves how the NY Times had a picture of the elephant's heart-decorated, fiberglass poo. The elephants are at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street. more ›

Short of naming saffron the Big Apple's color, Mayor Bloomberg bestowed The Gates masterminds Christo and Jeanne-Claude with the Doris C. Freedman award for enriching the public environment. Interesting facts: Freedman was the founder of the Public Art Fund, and Mayor Ed Koch created the "Percent for Art" law, "which requires the city to spend 1 percent of its budget for eligible city-funded construction projects on art for city facilities." The AP said that Christo and Jeanne-Claude didn't say much, except Jeanne-Claude did add that two volunteers for the project fell in love and were going to get married. That's a nice coda for Gothamist's coverage of The Gates to end - however, if some of the frames suddenly turn up at a loft party in South Williamsburg, we're going to be all over it. more ›

The new public art installation at Rockefeller Center is up: Walking To The Sky, by Jonathan Borofsky, features a 100 foot metal pole at an angle, with different kinds of people braving the climb. There are also sculptures of onlookers at the base, much like actual pedestrians stopping to inspect the sculpture. The skyscrapers that encircle Rockefeller Center make seeing this sculpture all the more dazzling and whimsical. More information from Rockefeller Center, and this sculpture was organized by the Public Art Fund. whatisee also took a look at the installation. more ›

The Biennial runs through May 30. more ›

The Mayor and the Public Art Fund have brought a little Roy Lichtenstein to city buildings, with Roy Lichtenstein at City Hall. Element #E, which has flourishes of brushstrokes, is the centerpiece, shown for the first time in it's full size, 50 foot glory; it's on display at the Tweed Courthouse, aka City Hall Academy. The other pieces are Brushstroke Group and Endless Drip (in City Hall Park) and a bronze bust, Woman: Sunlight, Moonlight in the lobby of City Hall. You can check out different Roy Lichtenstein sculptures on display in city buildings by calling 311 and making an appointment. more ›

The finalists will be on view in the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center. The Times has a piece about the 13 jurors for the WTC Memorial, including designer Maya Lin, Public Art Fund president Susan Freedman, Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris, and architect Enrique Norten. more ›

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