We just love the Broadway Mall Association public art installations, and have been waiting to see what would come next after ‘Nicolas Holiber: Birds on Broadway.’
Broadway Blooms: Jon Isherwood on Broadway, a sculpture exhibition located at eight locations between 64th Street and 157th Street is now on view. The sculptures are shaped in the form of flowers, celebrating the return to life from a long and difficult winter into spring.
” Why do we give flowers? The act can convey love, celebrate accomplishments, offer comfort in grief, repay hospitality, or simply beautify a space and bring personal joy. Beyond their universal appeal, flowers carry diverse cultural meanings ~ from the imbued spiritual symbolism of the lotus flower, to the holiday tradition of poinsettias, and the association of roses with love. Across time and space, flowers reflect one’s connection to community and to one another. Nature gifts us flowers, a spontaneous eruption of beauty that brings joy and wonder, and in return we offer them to one another.”…… Jon Isherwood.
“It is this spirit that I offer the city Broadway Blooms, a series of eight marble sculptures in the form of flowers. Carved in Bardigio Imperiale, Calcutta Gold, Verde Raeggiato, Fantastico Arni, Rosso Cardinale, Breccia Viola, and Rosa Portogallo marble, the blooms will be installed for a nine-month period in New York City at eight major intersections along Broadway starting at 64th Street (Dante Park/Lincoln Center), then 72nd Street, 79th Street, 96th Street, 103rd Street, 117th Street, 148th Street, and ending at 157th Street.”….. Jon Isherwood.
As with many exhibitions and installations over this past year, the installation of Jon Isherwood’s marble sculptures was delayed for more than one year due to the Covid pandemic.
About the artist ~ Jon Isherwood’s work has been widely exhibited in public museums and private galleries in US, Canada, Europe and China. He is the recipient of a Jerome Foundation Fellowship, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation award and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of New York at Plattsburgh. His sculpture has recently been exhibited at Villa Strozzi, Florence, Italy, The National Archaeological museum, Florence Italy, Ping Yao II, China; The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum Boston Mass and in Belgrave Square, London, UK.
He has had over 25 solo exhibitions, including Reeves Contemporary in NYC, John Davis Gallery in NYC; The C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore; Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum in Hamilton, OH. He has been featured in many group exhibitions, including the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy; The McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX; The Derby City Museum, Derby, UK; and Kunsthalle, Manheim, Germany. His work can be found in more than 25 public collections.
Isherwood has completed over 30 commissions in the private and public sector including a recent commission for New Jersey Public Art, Capital One Investments, USA, the US State Department Art in Embassies Program for the New Embassy in Oslo Norway, The Peninsula Hotel, Beijing China, Public Art San Antonio, Fidelity Investment UK, BCA, St Paul MN and The Woodner Memorial Sculpture at the Evening Star building Washington DC. Isherwood’s work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art in America, ArtNews, The Washington Post, The New York Sun, Sculpture Magazine, Partisan Reviews, The Philadelphia Enquirer, London Times and in The Guardian, UK. He has made personal appearances on shows featuring his work, including WAMC Public Radio and The Culture Show, BBC Television, UK. He has lectured at numerous colleges and universities in the U.S, Europe and China.
Isherwood is the President of The Digital Stone Project. Leeds College of Art; BA, Canterbury College of Art; MFA, Syracuse University. He has taught at Bennington since 2000 and is currently a faculty member in the Center for the Advancement of Public Action.
The Broadway Malls exhibition is organized in partnership with NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program and Morrison Gallery in Kent, Connecticut, with the assistance of the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District.
Broadway Blooms: Jon Isherwood on Broadway will be on view from 64th Street to 157th Street on view to Spring 2022. This is the 13th sculpture installation presented by the Broadway Mall Association since 2005.
Take a look-back at past installations including Nicolas Holiber: Birds on Broadway in 2019; and Kathy Ruttenbert on Broadway: in dreams awake 2018.
Since you’re on the Upper West Side, take a walk over to Riverside Park, visit the Goats, and check out Re:Growth, a summer-long outdoor art exhibition (2021).
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