Category Archives: public art

Subway Performance in Union Square

Yesterday, I was in the 14th Street Union Square subway station walking across the mezzanine when my ears perked up to the sweet sound of classical music. I followed the sound, and discovered that there was a performance art piece going on in the station. I walked into the performance about halfway through, so I am not sure about what happened in the beginning, but the parts I saw, were pretty interesting.

The performance featured two actors: one male and one female, with their faces painted pastel white and their lips painted in red lipstick. Their appearance reminded me of the stereotypical French mimes who perform actions and without speaking. Instead, these two performers were using their bodies to tell a story about a guy and a girl who fall in love and then grow apart from each other, set to beautiful yet morose piano music. Their facial expressions and small body language cues served to tell the story between these two lovers. I thought that the fact that they chose to do the performance in slow-motion was really powerful in that it emphasized the minute details of a relationship that is falling apart. It really engaged the viewer because the concept of time was so unique that it grabbed my attention, while also lending to the dramatic themes of the performance and the music.

Here is the Youtube link to the video that I took of the performance (sorry if you can’t really hear the music well):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6eJgUCmAHQ

 

Gantry Park LIC

Did you know that Pepsi got cured of his Coke addiction by visiting Dr. Pepper? Unfortunately it made his Ginger Ale…

Now that you’ve been hit in the face with a horrid pun to start things off, I’d like to introduce the Gantry Park of Long Island City. In my opinion, the Pepsi-Cola sign is both a landmark and a piece of work in and of itself. Pepsi is no longer in New York City so many people argue against the upholding of the landmark, but I say who cares – it’s got enough gaps in it for people to still see the river from their 2 million dollar apartments, and it lights up the sky and stands out nicely.

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I visited (and took this picture) of me in front of the sign one summer night at like 2 AM. The park actually had dozens of people walking around, probably because of the amazing waterfront view that is there. The park is home to free concerts on Tuesdays among other things.

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Union Square: Public Art

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While walking around Union Square on Halloween, I took newfound notice at the huge artwork plastered on a building. I never paid it much attention, but perhaps the (what I think looks like a) wand and the smoke on Halloween gave the day a more magical appearance, so I watched it for a bit, pondering its significance.

The piece done by artists Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel and is called Metronome. They describe the piece to be “an investigation into the nature of time,” which incorporates a variety of symbolic aspects.

The digital clock is called “the Passage”, the five-foot-wide circle is called “the Infinity”, the hand is called “the Relic”, the gold overlay is called “the Source”, the brick wall is called “the Vortex”, the rock is called “the Matter”, the lunar time piece on the far left is called “the Phases”, and the needle is called “the Focus”. It’s clear to say that there’s a lot of symbolic meaning to this piece, much of which revolve around energy, time, earth and God. “The Vortex” stands for a metaphor of the rotation of the earth and the passing of time, “the Matter” is suggestive of geological times when Manhattan was simply made of bedrock, and “the Infinity”, which strikes a tone at noon and midnight, shows the importance of time.

“Ultimately, the work is an ode to mortality and the impossibility of knowing time,” which is supposed to contrast the digital clock on the right. To read the digital clock, look at the seven leftmost digits, which show time in a conventional 24-hour format, going left to right showing hours, minutes, seconds and tenths of a second. The seven rightmost digits display the time remaining in a 24-hour day counting backwards, once again, left to right, to show the tenths of a second, seconds, minutes and hours left in the day.

I don’t know why I never cared for the piece or gave it much notice, perhaps because I find it rather drab, and its symbolic meaning certainly won’t jump out at you, it’s a piece one would seriously have to ponder. Similar to my reaction, yet perhaps a bit more harsh, critics alike have generally found the Metronome to be a waste of space, dubbing it a pretentious “wailing wail…where the death of aesthetics can be contemplated.”

Little Fun Fact: Metronome cost $3 million to produce

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Ya Snooze Ya Lose

Banksy sells original work for just $60 in Central Park – video

Over the weekend, New York was given a wake up call. British artist Banksy set up a pop up art stall in Central Park. His booth advertised 100% authentic original art by Banksy and like the “snobby” New Yorkers we are, most of us ignored it, passing it off another knock off. Because of the environment it was staged in — a random sidewalk, it was easy to overlook because it most likely reminded most New Yorkers of the pop up stalls that littered the streets of lower Manhattan, Canal street and Soho where vendors sold a lot of fake products.
This reminded me of the time when Joshua Bell played the violin in a crowded metro station in DC. He did this as a social experiment to see how people would perceive talent and beauty given the environment it is placed in. The aim of this experiment was: “in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?”

So, in the case of Banksy selling his art on the street, do we only recognize his art as great when it’s in a clean white gallery and ignore it if it’s just sitting there on the street?

Art in Times Square

We have all seen the performances in subways stations. Whether or not we want to, we just can’t help but at least glance at the performers or pay attention to the performance for a minute. Sometimes you will find it to be a nuisance, but other times, you will be fascinated.

A few weeks ago, I witnessed a performer in the Times Square train station. I honestly do not know what type of music or instruments he was playing, but it was captivating. It is a unique sound you don’t hear anywhere else. It’s somewhat energetic and sure to keep you awake. It sounds like a foreign dance song or a song at a festival. One thing I noticed was that almost everyone who walked by stopped for a few seconds just to stare. IT seemed to brighten up some of the people’s days. This music is certainly something worth listening to and trying to figure out its origins. However, it wasn’t only the music that caught my attention though.

His choice of location was almost perfect. He was surrounded by several works of art. One work behind him seemed to show normal New Yorkers walking by. Many seem slightly rushed. Some of the people in the artwork look as if they were also watching him perform. The picture on the wall seemed to mimic the people in real life, rushing to go somewhere but still sopping to stare at the man and his performance. In the wall across from him, there is a work depicting the recording of some sort of show. They are entering the subway station in this picture. One idea we can gather from this image is that there are shows worth seeing and recording in the subway stations, such as this. It might have been the music or it could have been the pictures, but these two combined certainly caught my eye. I wonder if the man thought about his location in terms of his surroundings before setting his act up.

It’s interesting to me that we can see art in New York City in real life, while also standing in front of something depicting the arts in New York City.

What do you think about subway performances, or this performance and his location? Do you think it was on purpose?

Times Square Performance
Art work in Times Square

Art work in Times Square

It’s Cool on the Internet, but Amazing in Person

We all see cool things people have done, on the internet. We never can be sure who did it, if it is credible, where to find it, or if it is even possible. In particular, I am talking about works of art made out of post-its. I did believe it was possible, but I never saw it in person. Whenever I see a photo of one, I wish I could actually see it in person because it just seems so awesome. My wish came true this past weekend. Near Brooklyn Bridge Park, I saw an image of Pac-Man made out of post-its.

It's Pac-Man!

It’s Pac-Man!

The fact that it is looks exactly the same as something you would find on the internet just makes the act of seeing it much better. Seeing something like this on the internet will not be enough anymore now that I know I saw something like this in person.

Is there a meaning behind this masterpiece? Likely not, but we can probably assume that someone in this office is a Pac-Man fan!

Do you ever see things on the internet you just want to see in real life?

Even the Smallest Works of Art can have a Purpose

While walking around in Downtown Brooklyn, I came across this interesting work wrapped around a tree. At first, I thought it was just something made out of legos, but it was so interesting that I gave it a closer inspection. After a couple of minutes, I realized it is more than just something built out of legos and wrapped around a tree! Do you see it? There’s a message. It takes a while to decode.

Can you decode the message?

Can you decode the message?

Perhaps it was built as just a joke, but maybe it wasn’t. Regardless, the message is pretty funny and it is something everyone should consider. “PEE N DIE,” is what the artist wants to tell you. Pee on the tree and you will die. What can we gather from this? People and animals should consider the well being of trees. Try and not harm them with acidic fluids. Passing art like this is easy to ignore. It is always an accomplishment when you actually stop and notice something like this. If you ever see something that seems out of place, take a minute and decode it! Any piece of art can having meaning such as this one.

Art in Chipotle

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Of all places, this piece of art was in Chipotle! The other day, I saw this and looked at it, and said to myself, “wow, out of all places, this is here?!” I saw parts of human bodies: toes, feet, hands, fingernails, eyes, etc. What made this unique, to me, was that this piece was made of wood and some sort of metal. These materials were abstract to me because humans are made up of flesh/blood and the wood/metal is that complete opposite of that. I wonder what the artist was trying to accomplish with this. Furthermore, the body parts are composed to form a rigid square. I wonder if the person in this piece was significant to the artist. I’m curious if this piece has any relation to food, or Chipotle, where this was found.

What do you guys think? Does this piece of wood have any relationship to Chipotle?

Cool Things to Do

On October 17 at 6:30PM, our very own Mishkin Gallery presents “Degenerate Art” a short play about censorship by Walter Corwin, directed by Dan Kelley.

Also The Exit, Pursued By a Bear theater group is hosting a new theater lab. These labs are loads of fun–you’ll see Broadway actors explore new creative projects and you’ll eat a delicious meal prepared by the cast and crew.  And it’s free!  This is a really popular event and seats fill quickly.  If you’re interested, reserve a ticket now.

Enjoy the break!

The Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

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When Hurricane Sandy came through New York City last year, it left a path of destruction.  Many houses were destroyed and lives changed.  At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, many trees that stood for over 100 years were lost to the storm, all of which were botanically and historically significant. This tree house, pictured above is the work of Roderick Wolgamott-Romero along with the arborists at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as they repurposed the many fallen oak trees that were lost to Sandy.  I think this tree house is an amazing work of art that really has a “life after death” feeling to it as they repurpose the the trees.   Along with learning to adapt to the increasing shifts in weather patterns what do you think are some ways we can help better the environment from our homes in New York City?