June 26, 2008

"New York City Waterfalls" Now Flowing

I'm excited to be heading to New York next week, not just because it's been six months since I've seen all of my friends there, but because the city is hosting their biggest public art installation since Christo and Jean Claude's "The Gates" which were documented on this site's photoblog (here, here, here, here and here).

The latest art project does not involve bright orange fabric of any kind, but is far simpler. Four large scaffolds were erected in the East River and water began flowing over them this morning. Olafur Eliasson is the man behind "New York City Waterfalls" and he intends to make people aware of the water that surrounds them. After all, four of the city's five boroughs exist on islands - a fact that many New Yorkers are oblivious to, or at least don't regularly consider. I think the project is an interesting concept and I look forward to seeing if the waterfalls live up to the hype. From what I've read so far, people seem unimpressed.

As a side note, I narrowly missed being able to see a neat art project called the Telectroscope (a "tunnel" which linked London and New York) which was just recently taken down. I won't complain too much however, because I expect the waterfalls will make for more impressive photos.

UPDATE: I almost forgot to mention another unusual art project I saw in New York back in 2005: Robert Smithson's "Floating Island".

permalink | comments (0) | TrackBack | posted at 10:47 PM

November 6, 2006

Contemporary Art: Barnaby Furnas

When it comes to art, I usually prefer older works from the 18th and 19th centuries. Jacque-Louis David, for example, has been my favorite since I saw a few of his paintings in the Louvre when I was 18.

But today, as I was flipping through last week's issue of New York Magazine, I was surprised to see a painting that I really like - Heartbreak Ridge by Barnaby Furnas (pictured above). It's not too abstract and it's probably the only painting that I have ever seen which doesn't portray my favorite period of American history, the Civil War, in a realistic style. If anything, this more abstract piece captures the chaos of battle better than any of the more realistic works by artists like Mort Kunstler.

According to the magazine, the painting will go for about $400,000 to $600,000 at a Sotheby's auction. It's 12 feet long which means it would look really good on one of the walls in my apartment (hint, hint). If MoMA buys it, I'll happily fork over their ridiculous $20 entrance fee to see it.

To see more works by Furnas (including some more peaceful pieces), check out this slideshow.

permalink | comments (0) | TrackBack | posted at 5:10 PM