Image credit: Phyllida Barlow; In-process image of antic, 2023 at 4th State Metals, NY. Corten steel, fiberglass, lacquer. Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Asya Gorovits, courtesy Public Art Fund, NY. Artwork a part of Phyllida Barlow: PRANK, presented by Public Art Fund in City Hall Park, New York City, June 6, 2023–November 26, 2023.
On June 6, 2023, Public Art Fund will debut PRANK, the late British artist Phyllida Barlow’s final series of large-scale freestanding sculptures. This exhibition of seven new steel and fiberglass sculptures in City Hall Park offers the opportunity to experience her rich artistic legacy in the public sphere. As Barlow’s first series of outdoor sculptures made from robust long-lasting materials, PRANK marks a notable departure from the artist’s typical use of materials suitable for indoor display, extending her highly influential practice into the realm of public art.
IMAGE CREDITS: Nicholas Galanin. In every language there is Land / En cada lengua hay una Tierra, 2023. Corten steel. Courtesy of the artist and Peter Blum Gallery. Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Public Art Fund, NY. Presented by Public Art Fund at Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York City, May 16 through Fall 2023.
On May 16, 2023, Public Art Fund will debut In every language there is Land / En cada lengua hay una Tierra, a monumental corten steel sculpture by artist Nicholas Galanin. The artist’s first public artwork in New York City, this new 30-foot tall sculpture combines references to the US/Mexico border wall and Pop Art, serving as a point of focus to consider the legacy of colonization and its impact on migration and our relationships with Land across generations, cultures, and communities. In every language there is Land / En cada lengua hay una Tierra questions the concept of border walls, which are designed to cut across land and water, restricting access to the migratory routes necessary for various life forms.
Aïda Muluneh, “To pursue the ceaseless way”, 2022 Artwork by Aïda Muluneh. Photo: Nicholas Knight, Courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY. Artwork a part of “Aïda Muluneh: This is where I am”, presented by Public Art Fund on over 330 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York City, Chicago, and Bostonn in the United States, and Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire on view from March 1 – May 21, 2023
Public Art Fund debuts This is where I am, an exhibition of 12 new photographs by Aïda Muluneh on over 330 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York, Boston, and Chicago in the United States, and Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire. The exhibition marks both the artist’s first public art exhibition in Côte d’Ivoire and the first time that Public Art Fund presents artwork on the African continent, expanding the organization’s partnership with JCDecaux beyond the United States. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Muluneh’s practice focuses on her cultural heritage as a way to explore themes of history, politics, sense of place, and other pressing issues such as the climate crisis. For this new series, Muluneh drew inspiration from Ethiopian poet Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin’s “This is where I am”. Written in 1974–the year that marked both Muluneh’s birth and the start of the Ethiopian Revolution–the poem and the resulting body of photographs are markedly personal. The series bridges past and present, as Muluneh examines her experiences as an immigrant and Ethiopian woman, reflects upon the various political regimes she has lived through, and borrows visual language from religious iconography.
East Elevation ~ The reimaginationn of David Geffen Hall will welcome all who visit with generosity, warmth and fun. Vivid colors, patterns and textures that mirror the spirit and vibrancy of performance will enrich its public spaces.
The much anticipated, newly renovated David Geffen Hall opens to the public on October 8, 2022 ~ home of the New York Philharmonic and new welcoming cultural home for New York. Completed two years early with a transformative design by Diamond Schmitt Architects and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the project represents a statement of faith in New York and its artistic community, while delivering jobs and economic development at a crucial time for the city’s rebound.
Public Art Fund presents artist Bharti Kher ‘Ancestor’ on the Doris C. Freedman Plaza
Public Art Fund is pleased to present Ancestor, an 18-foot-tall patinated bronze sculpture by New Delhi and London-based artist Bharti Kher. The powerful new work will grace Doris C. Freedman Plaza at the southeast entrance to Central Park beginning September 8.
Today, Public Art Fund unveiled a group exhibition at Brooklyn Bridge Park, co-curated by artist Hugh Hayden and Public Art Fund Adjunct Curator Daniel S. Palmer. This is the first time in his career that Hayden will take on the dual role of artist and co-curator. Titled Black Atlantic, the exhibition brings together new site-responsive artworks by Leilah Babirye, Hugh Hayden, Dozie Kanu, Tau Lewis, and Kiyan Williams. Their commissions, wide-ranging both materially and conceptually, create an exchange of ideas among artists of a similar generation that proposes an open, multifaceted, and heterogeneous idea of identity in the United States today. The exhibition will be on view from May 17 through November 27, 2022 throughout Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Wyatt Kahn, “Parade”, 2021 Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Eva Presenhuber and Xavier Hufkens Presented by Public Art Fund as part of Wyatt Kahn: Life in the Abstract on view at City Hall Park, New York City, June 8, 2022 ~ February 26, 2022. Photo: Nicholas Knight, Courtesy Public Art Fund
Public Art Fund is pleased to present Life in the Abstract, an exhibition of new large-scale sculptures by artist Wyatt Kahn. It will bring seven vibrant rust red Cor-Ten steel artworks to City Hall Park for Khan’s first exhibition in public space. Kahn has adapted forms previously explored in his canvas wall works, combining elements of geometric abstraction with playful “readymade” objects from everyday life like a comb and a phone. Juxtapositions such as glasses resting on abstract shapes and a foot about to crush a lightbulb produce playful narrative compositions. These new works expand the lineage of modernist public sculpture, while the significance of each artwork takes on personal meaning and resonance for the viewer. Life in the Abstract is the New York City-based artist’s first public art exhibition and will be on view from June 8 through December 11, 2022 at City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan.
Public Art Fund expands on its use of the JCDecaux bus shelters as canvas with an ambitious new three-city exhibition, Global Positioning ~ new artworks by 20 international artists that reveals our fundamental shared humanity across the boundaries of geography, culture, language, history, and politics. Coming together from 17 countries across six continents, these creative voices span disparate regions including the Amazon rainforest in Colombia; the desert lands of the Indulkana Community in Central Australia; Yangon, Myanmar, where the military has seized control through a coup; and the West African port city of Accra, Ghana. The exhibition debuts on January 26 on 320 JCDecaux bus shelters throughout New York City, Chicago, and Boston.
Public Art Fund will also be hosting an upcoming virtual panel talkwith three of the artists in the exhibition, Myriam Boulos (Beirut, Lebanon), Nolan Oswald Dennis (Johannesburg, South Africa), and Denisse Ariana Pérez (Barcelona, Spain), on January 31st at 1:30pm ET on Zoom. In conversation with PAF’s Artistic & Executive Director Nicholas Baume, they’ll discuss the impact of public art throughout the pandemic, and how art can reveal our shared humanity across various boundaries.
Public Art Fund is pleased to present British conceptual artist Gillian Wearing’s life-size bronze sculpture Diane Arbus—a tribute to the legendary photographer. Arbus was a lifelong New Yorker and often frequented Central Park, where she made photographs of everyday people. Wearing’s sculpture is on view in Doris C. Freedman Plaza at the southeast entrance to the park. It depicts Arbus with her finger on the shutter button of her iconic twin lens camera, as she might have been seen in the 1950s and 60s.
Martine Gutierrez, Cleopatra (left); Atargatis (right), 2021 Courtesy the artist. Photographic works commissioned by Public Art Fund for Martine Gutierrez: ANTI-ICON presented on JCDecaux bus shelters across New York City’s five boroughs, Chicago, and Boston, August 25 to November 21, 2021. Image courtesy Public Art Fund
On August 25, Public Art Fund will present ANTI-ICON, a 300-site exhibition of ten new photographs by Brooklyn-based photographer and performance artist Martine Gutierrez. The exhibition will be on view on 100 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York City, 150 in Chicago, and for the first time in this exhibition series, 50 JCDecaux bus shelters in Boston. With ANTI-ICON, Gutierrez continues her exploration of identity across the landscapes of race, gender, class, and culture.
Claudia Wieser in her studio. Photo: Michael Schultze
On July 29, Public Art Fund will unveil Rehearsal, Berlin-based artist Claudia Wieser’s public art debut. Featuring five distinct large-scale geometric sculptures clad with hand-painted glazed tiles, panels featuring photographs of New York City and Roman and Greek antiquities, and mirror polished stainless steel, Rehearsal will create an immersive experience for park goers to explore. The cluster of sculptures will be located at the iconic terminus of Washington Street, where the Manhattan Bridge frames the Empire State Building. Juxtaposed with the surrounding architecture and natural landscape of Brooklyn Bridge Park, Rehearsal highlights the dynamism of the city and its people. The installation can be seen as both a meeting place and a theatrical set that hearkens back to ancient Roman forums—public spaces where people could assemble, interact, and exchange ideas. Inviting park goers into the installation to explore the painted, photographic, and mirrored details of Wieser’s works, Rehearsal will offer a moment of pause and reflection, and also allow the public to become actors in their own urban narrative. Rehearsal is Wieser’s first-ever outdoor public exhibition and will be on view from July 29, 2021 through April 17, 2022 at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Main Street Park section.
Illustration ~ Arts programming on 175 Park Avenue’s Graybar Terrace. Image credit: James Corner Field Operations. The artwork shown for illustrative purposes is “The Roses” by Will Ryman.
TF Cornerstone and RXR Realty – lead partners in the redevelopment of the Grand Hyatt New York – today announced that Public Art Fund and Lord Cultural Resources will spearhead the development of a cultural program to bring public art installations, community events, and programming to 175 Park Avenue. In the coming months, both organizations will host meetings and workshops with community stakeholders to collect feedback that will help shape the vision for how 175 Park Avenue can facilitate a rich arts and cultural experience in the heart of East Midtown.
Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days will include five works created between 1970 and 1996, as well as a new sculpture commissioned in 2020, which was the originally anticipated date for this exhibit. Now, stepping out of our COVID-19 shutdown, this Public Art Fund exhibition will finally unveil in City Hall Park on May 4th, 2021.
On February 24, Public Art Fund will debut New Visions for Iris, a 350-site photography exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Awol Erizku. On view at 200 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York City and 150 in Chicago, this is the first exhibition in Public Art Fund’s partnership with JCDecaux to be presented in two cities concurrently.
Concept rendering of Sam Moyer: Doors for Doris on view starting September 16, 2020 at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park. Image courtesy Sam Moyer Studio and Sean Kelly, New York
Artist, Sam Moyer created a new site specific installation for the Public Art Fund at the entrance to Central Park on the Doris C. Freedman Plaza. The enormous three-part sculpture creates a gateway that poetically bridges the architecture of the city and the natural landscape of the park.
Concept rendering of detail from Davina Semo: Reverberation, to be on view at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1, Aug 13 – April 18, 2020. Courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY.
Davina Semo: Reverberation will unveil five new painted bronze bells by Davina Semo In Brooklyn Bridge Park this August. The installation will explore our relationship to industrial materials and the built environment that we encounter every day.
Doron Langberg,, “Joe and Edgar”, 2020, 35th Ave at 24th St., Queens; Courtesy the artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. Photo: Nicholas Knight, Courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY.
On June 29, 2020 Public Art Fund launched Art on the Grid, a multi-platform exhibition of new work by a group of 50 New York-based, emerging artists. The exhibition was conceived in the spring of 2020 in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As it developed, the parallel epidemic of systemic racism came into sharp and painful focus. Both crises now set the backdrop for the exhibition. The city, country, and world will emerge changed by these events, and the exhibition’s focus on reconnection and renewal have become even more urgent. Works in the exhibition are united around a number of themes including healing and loss; community and isolation; intimacy and solitude; and the creation of a future that is more just, inclusive, and equitable.
Launched July 27th, the second group of 40 new artworks.
Interior: The more than 1.3 million square feet of the new Terminal B will be flooded with natural light and feature exciting food, retail and service options for passengers. Image via laguardia.com
As part of New York’s vision for a world-class airport at LaGuardia, Terminal B unveiled spectacular new permanent artworks by world-renowned artists, Jeppe Hein, Sabine Hornig, Laura Owens and Sarah Sze. The project is a partnership with the leading New York-based nonprofit Public Art Fundto bring inspirational, large-scale art installations to the new LaGuardia Airport.
Pope.L: Instigation, Aspiration, Perspiration, is a trio of exhibitions organized by The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Public Art Fund. Utilizing both public and private spaces, the expansive presentation addresses many elements of the artist’s oeuvre, from singular early works to a monumental new installation and a new large-scale performative work inspired by the artist’s iconic crawl series on the streets of New York City. Let’s begin there, with the Public Art Fund and Pope. L: conquest on September 21, 2019.
Jean-Marie Appriou: The Horses arrive on the Doris C. Freedman Plaza
Jean-Marie Appriou: The Horses arrived on the Doris C. Freedman Plaza this month, following Mark Manders: Tilted Head. Curated by Public Art Fund Curator, Daniel S. Palmer, the massive equine sculptures stand like surreal sentinels at the entrance to Central Park.
Public Art Fund launched a multi-work installation, extending through 100 sites across New York City. The installation, sun to sun, is the work of photographer Ellie Pérez, and consists of a suite of sixteen new photographic works displayed on bus shelters in over thirteen neighborhoods citywide. We caught some of the images along 125th Street in Harlem, and one along Madison Avenue in El Barrio ~ sharing below.
Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales. This sculpture entitled “Angulo Rojo, 2017”
The Public Art Fund unveiled the installation, Estructuras Monumentales by the well-know, Cuban-born, New York artist, Carmen Herrera in City Hall Park. This significant body of work is Herrera’s first major outdoor sculpture exhibition ~ having spent more than 70 years as an abstract painter. It is also significant that Ms. Herrera is 104 years of age.
The Public Art Fund has a lot going on this year, on the heals of the opening of Siah Armajani in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Coinciding with Met Breuer’s Siah Armajani: Follow This Line, it will unveil Mark Manders: Tilted Head at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza, on the southern end of Central Park at Fifth Avenue.
A view of Siah Armajani’s ‘Bridge Over Tree’ in Brooklyn Bridge Park from the Manhattan Bridge
The Iranian-born, American sculpture artist, Siah Armajani is best known for his works of public art in bridges, gazebos, gardens, and reading rooms across the United States and Europe.
The artist has arrived in New York with a two-pronged installation and exhibition. The outdoor component will be featured by The Public Art Fund in Brooklyn Bridge Park with the installation Bridge Over Tree (1970), which was first exhibited as a temporary installation at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis nearly fifty years ago (1970). It consists of a 91-foot-long walkway with open, trussed sides and a shingled roof, with a set of stairs at the midpoint that climb and descend over a small evergreen tree. The installation is located on the Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn at Brooklyn Bridge Park between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. Siah Armajani: Bridge Over Tree is curated by The Public Art Fund Director and Chief Curator Nicholas Baume.
The original concept and installation by Armajani was created as an outdoor, site-specific piece for the Walker Art Center’s 9 Artists/9 Spaces exhibition. Coinciding with The Public Art Fund installation, Siah Armajani: Follow This Line is on view at The Met Breuer. Featuring nearly one hundred works made over the past 60 years, Siah Armajani: Follow This Line is the first major U.S. retrospective of the preeminent Iranian-American artist Siah Armajani (b. 1939).
Here, we explore both the indoor and outdoor components, beginning at Met Breuer, and moving to Brooklyn Bridge Park with the MET and the Public Art Fund.
B. Wurtz ‘Kitchen Trees’ in City Hall Park via Public Art Fund
Public Art Fund will unveil its third summer 2018 installation this week in City Hall Park. The installations, entitled Kitchen Trees are the creation of the artist B. Wurtz.
The 1930s-era, John J. Harvey Fireboat has had a lengthy history, including pumping water to firefighters at the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks. The Public Art Fund exhibition, Tauba Auerbach: Flow Separation will create a new look in World War I-era camouflage, just in time for the 100th Anniversary year of the end of World War 1.
As if blowing in the wind, the art installation, Yinka Shonibare MBE: Wind Sculpture (SG) I is the new installation beautifying the Doris C. Freedman Plaza via Public Art fund. If you haven’t been to see this graceful new sculpture, you have time. It will be on view to mid October, 2018. And below are a few photo’s from the unveiling on March 6th.
