We all know that New York’s major museums and private galleries make the city one of the great artistic centers of the world. For the most part, though, I deliberately did not spend my time at those venues during this disjointed sojourn in New York. Instead, I wandered the streets, noting public art that was whimsical and affecting. Here are some of the artworks I saw:
A snail on the meridian at West 96th street and Broadway. (Note the naked lady sitting inside the snail’s shell.)
A statue of Ralph Kramden, bus driver, from the tv show, The Honeymooners, stands outside the Port Authority Bus Station.
Light moving through colored glass circles embedded in metal, on a square in the Battery area.
A mousey, on the meridian near Broadway and West 81st street.
New York’s Korean War Veteran’s memorial, in the Battery area. (Presenting the soldier as a missing space is quite affecting, as is the view through him of tree and sky; some sad sense of the eternal there.)
It is a well-known piece of public art at this point, but who could resist displaying this little bundle of defiance standing against the Wall Street Bull!
And somewhere on Eighth Avenue, I think–I have no idea what it is, but it is interesting, no? Like some creature curled up into a tight hug.
There was also an interesting exhibit of work by Bernie Leahy in a one-room gallery at the Irish Arts Center, what the artist calls “stitched drawings.” Even when quite close to the work, one must strain to see that they are stitched with thread or yarn and not drawn with pen, pencil or painted. Here are a couple of examples:
And also, just for fun–from the same Bernie Leahy exhibit, lips stitched in…
They have an anthropomorphized look, don’t they? It’s as if the fastened buttons are of a blouse fastening just below the neck. And lips being inserted, one wants to supply eyes; and the eyes being missing makes it feel like the gloves are blind or blindfolded. Am I deceived, or does there appear to be a chin below the lips?