Spanish sculptor, Jaume Plensa’s work- Echo is an emotionally engaging, site-specific, work, monumental in scale, and located in Madison Square Park. It depicts a nine-year old girl form Barcelona, lost in a state of thoughts and dreams. It is a forty-foot tall sculpture, situated in the park’s expansive lawn. I happened to pass by it many times and the striking sculpture definitely left an impact on me. In the sculpture’s depiction, the girl’s eyes are closed and her mouth is shut, as if she caught in a dream or a moment of thought. It very explicitly refers to an episode in Greek mythology, where Echo, the chatty girl was scorned by Narcissus and then left only with the sound of her own voice. As a site-specific work of art, Echo competes with the monolithic monuments surrounding it- the Empire state Building, the Met Life Tower, and the New York Life Building. It is a piece of contemplative work- allowing passerby’s to question the significance of the piece. For many, it seems to grow from the grass itself.
