Richard Woods
wall and door and roof
City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan
On view through September 2009
Franz West
The Ego and the Id
Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park
On view from July 15, 2009 through March 2010
Richard Woods
wall and door and roof
British artist Richard Woods has been re-creating and re-envisioning objects and environments since the late 1990s. Fusing art, architecture, and design, the artist completely transforms structures and spaces to create vividly different surroundings that merge reality with fantasy. wall and door and roof is an imaginative translation of various structural elements at City Hall. Cladding the property’s two security booths with a printed facade of cartoon-like red bricks, Woods dramatically juxtaposes the historic architecture of City Hall with ordinary building materials. Woods’ faux renovation continues inside City Hall on a set of lobby doors. Covering the doors in a printed graphic that is a replication of itself, the artist produces a heightened and flattened sense of reality.
Location and Directions
City Hall Park is located in Lower Manhattan, bordered by Broadway, Chambers Street, Centre Street, and Park Row.
Subways: A, C, E to Chambers Street; 4, 5, 6, J, M, Z to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall; N, R to City Hall; 2, 3 to Park Place.
wall and door and roof is free to the public, although reservations are required for tours of City Hall and can be made by calling 311 or visiting www.nyc.gov
wall and door and roof is presented with the support of the September 11th Fund. The September 11th Fund was created by the New York Community Trust and the United Way.
Special thanks to Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York.
Franz West
The Ego and the Id
Internationally acclaimed artist Franz West has been creating large-scale aluminum sculptures for the past decade. Consistent with the artist’s overarching desire to produce sociable environments for viewing art, these sculptures with their playful combination of whimsy and monumentality have become a signature element of his wide-ranging body of work. The Ego and the Id is West’s newest and largest aluminum sculpture to date. Soaring 20 feet high, the piece consists of two similar but distinct, brightly colored, looping abstract forms, one bubble gum pink and the other alternating blocks of blue, green, orange, and yellow. Each of the forms curve up at the bottom creating stools that invite passersby to stop, take a seat, and directly engage with the work.
Location and Directions
Doris C. Freedman Plaza is located at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue, at the entrance to Central Park.
Subways: N, R to Fifth Avenue; 4, 5, 6 to 59th Street/Lexington Avenue.
The Ego and the Id is free to the public.
The Ego and the Id is on loan from the collection of Amalia Dayan and Adam Lindemann.
Special thanks to Gagosian Gallery.
Also on view this summer, A Clearing in the Streets by Julie Farris and Sarah Wayland-Smith at Collect Pond Park and Trapdoor at MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, featuring works by Ethan Breckenridge, Francis Cape, Martha Friedman, and Sara Greenberger Rafferty. For more information, please visit www.publicartfund.org
About Public Art Fund
Since 1977, the Public Art Fund has worked with over 500 emerging and established artists to produce innovative temporary exhibitions of contemporary art throughout New York City. By bringing artworks outside the traditional context of museums and galleries, the Public Art Fund provides a unique platform for an unparalleled public encounter with the art of our time.
Become a fan of the Public Art Fund on Facebook!
Public Art Fund is a non-profit art organization supported by generous contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations, and with funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the National Endowment for the Arts.
wall and door and roof and The Ego and the Id are made possible through the cooperation of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris; Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe; and Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin.
Media contact:
Gabby Fisher
212.980.4575
gfisher@publicartfund.org
