Something strange happened on a cold October 2013 morning on the Upper West Side. It was so cold that the locals chose to be seated indoors for their daily brunch get together. Yet on one ordinary corner of 79th Street and Broadway, photographers, locals, and tourists all crowded around an ordinary red water pipe. All of a sudden a young silhouetted boy appeared on the wall immediately above the pipe. The boy’s face was too dark to distinguish, but he must have been cold, because he was just wearing shorts and a tee shirt. As the crowd watched and flashed their cameras the boy caught a mallet from the sky and attempted to crush the red water pipe as if he were at a carnival playing the Strongman game. Stunned by the paparazzi, the boy froze with the mallet just a foot away from the pipe. The onlookers began to interact with what was now just “graffiti on wall” by placing their heads between the pipe and the mallet, pretending to be the pop-up heads in the game. Over time as all other Banksy artworks went missing Boy with Hammer stayed back by the Zabar’s building, even as the crowds left for dinner.
Morning that the Banksy was found
People interacting with Boy With Hammer
Boy With Hammer is an enigma. People can only guess at its meaning. Its artist is anonymous, and yet, despite this, his works sell for top dollar. Many of Banksy’s pieces depict poverty, hypocrisy, and boredom. They often send a politically driven message to the audience. Sometimes the message is jumping off the wall and speaking for itself, and other times people stare for a while, confused, as if they are playing charades with an infant. The Upper West Side’s Boy With Hammer is a painting of the latter variety. Perhaps only a child can truly relate.
A few things are known about this artist. In October of 2013, Banksy took to the streets of New York. Each morning an Instagram post announced where his latest work could be found. In total he made thirty-one pieces around the five boroughs. The overnight appearance and disappearance of these illicit drawings adds to the enigma that is Banksy. Fortunately, the Zabar brothers, owners of real estate and a famous food market located uptown, took action to protect the last Banksy piece in New York. Today the artwork, which is painted on a building they own on 79th street, is covered by a plexiglass square. Interestingly, unlike most graffiti artists who are prosecuted for illegally painting on private property, Banksy’s illicit work is praised and preserved for prosperity (even though preserving the work may not gibe with the artist’s intention).
Banksy on 79th and Broadway protected by plexi – glass placed there by Zabars
Although the political message behind this painting may be known only to one’s imagination, the painting is categorically part of New Genre Public Art. In all of Banksy’s works some political message is being addressed in the most creative and avant-garde form. For instance, one of Banksy’s paintings in an underprivileged neighborhood in Harlem shows a rich boy spray painting the words “Ghetto for Life” on the wall, while his butler serves him spray cans on a silver platter. In this specific example it is clear that the neighborhood is closely tethered to the artwork by becoming the background canvas that the graffiti painted words are addressing. The location of Boy With Hammer is tied only to the location by the siamese connected water pipe, but not necessarily to the Upper West Side, for the painting’s meaning remains a mystery. Maybe the boy attempting to destroy this water pipe is addressing the lack of cultural education in today’s youth. The parallel is that the water pipe, which has now become a part of this art piece, is being destroyed by the ignorant boy.
About a twenty-minute walk and fifty years before the West Side Banksy work, seventy-four-year-old Jose was walking with his wife on a warm Friday evening on the East Side of Central Park. A short walk from the conservatory water pond, Jose and his wife approached a young girl with long, golden hair and a short sleeved, frilled dress sitting on a giant, wavy mushroom top. He and his wife gasped in disbelief as a cat ran up to the girl and stood in front of her with its paws up as if to tell her a joke. As Jose walked a little closer to see what was going on, a rabbit with his ears perked up, dressed in cufflinks and a tuxedo, pulled out his pocket watch and seemed to be telling the girl some very important information. Jose’s childhood imagination began to wonder if maybe he was in some alternate world where cats and rabbits could speak, and he couldn’t help but to approach the girl and her entourage of animals.
Jose De Creeft, the famous Spanish sculptor of the bronze statue of Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, wanted to visit his work after it was set in place in 1959. He never got a chance to climb it, and even though it was intended for children, Jose’s inner youth came out when he stepped up onto the mushroom and took a seat on Alice’s lap. All of a sudden, a man’s voice was heard in the distance shouting “Get off the statue, it was made for children!” As the man approached, it became apparent that the man shouting was George Delecorte, Jose’s close friend and the private commissioner of the bronze playground. When they both realized what had happened, Mr. Delecorte climbed the statue and sat on Alice’s other lap opposite Jose. Mrs. Creeft sat on the bench opposite the statue as if protectively watching two children play at the park.
JUNE 30 1959 George T. Delacorte with his Alice in Wonderland Statue in Central Park. (Photo by Dan Farrell/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
This statue was dedicated in memory of Mr. Delecorte’s wife who loved children and Alice in Wonderland. Alice’s face was modeled after Jose’s daughter who loved the fact that her father was working on a playful piece for other children. Jose had paid attention to every little detail. He sculpted dozens of clay models before making the mold to cast the bronze. The Mad Hatter who is seated on a mushroom beneath Alice, is watching the Dormouse, who is intentionally placed on a medium-sized mushroom for children who can’t climb all the way up. Even beneath the main mushroom, the detail is immaculate. Little snails and lizards could be found by toddlers who can only crawl on all fours.
Mr. and Mrs. Creeft and daughter. Alice’s face was modeled after her.
This playground was made for children of all sizes and ages. The statue became a busy stop for all New Yorkers and tourists from the day it was established in May of 1959. The minute it was unveiled a swarm of children climbed the statue – touching all the figurines’ realistic features and searching for hidden clues in its many angular twists and hidden curves. This park within a park is most definitely classified as “Art in Space” as defined in Miwon Kwon’s One Place After Another. The artwork is site specific, socially responsible, and sends a heartwarming message to people of all ages and especially for children from all around the globe.
Swarms of children covering the statue when it was unveiled
Both the Banksy street art and the commissioned Alice Statue have a mysterious aura to them. Nobody is really sure who the artist is or the true meaning behind Boy With Hammer, and Alice’s rabbit hole has been a part of every child’s daydream. On the morning that the Banksy was found the community came out in giddy surprise to see the illicit street art. The bronze statue was similarly appreciated by the community of New Yorkers who came to the unveiling and watched the exquisite statue in awe as children occupied every square inch with screaming joy. However, because the Banksy work is a non-commissioned piece on a private wall, the Zabars brothers have to fight locals from defacing the work. The painting’s specific message is unclear, but Banksy’s reputation for anti-imperialist, anti-government, anti-elitist art is well known and is laid over to the onlooker. The statue on the other hand, was made for the purpose of the public to interact with in a very physical way. The bronze polish has actually come off and some surfaces flattened from all the children touching and stomping on it. Eventually the park may, one day, have to replace this one with a copy, but anticipating this with his child friendly statue, Jose de Creeft gave the mold over to the park’s conservation department.
Alice In Wonderland Statue in Central Park by Jose De Creeft
