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Video of the Day: Robot Art

By Caroline Stanley on

Speaking of public art, did you know that New York’s first robot built public art installation went up earlier this fall in Chinatown? As in built by a real robot! We knew they could roller skate on desks and mix a mean cocktail, but make art? Pike Loop, the work of Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler and a robot named R-O-B, consists of more than 7,000 bricks glued into a looping wall. It took R-O-B about four weeks, working day and night. The installation, which was realized thanks to Storefront for Art and Architecture and the New York City Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program, will remain in place at the intersection of Pike Street and Division Street through January.

View more images of the end result and a time-lapse video of the construction after the jump. … Read More

Art

American Gothic, 3D and 25-Feet Tall

By Kelsey Keith on

American Gothic, Grant Wood’s portrait of a farmer and his unwed daughter in the agrarian Midwest, is one of America’s most famous paintings. The dour visages and stark, Northern Renaissance-influenced style ushered in the Regionalist period later parodied through the ages of pop culture. And now, it’s back, this time not just spoofed, but completely ripped off in a three-dimensional version called “God Bless America” in Chicago’s Pioneer Plaza. Whether you see Wood’s original painting as a satire of repressed Midwestern society or a glorification of its moral virtue, we doubt any of the visitors posing for pictures aside the sculpture are analyzing it much at all. And perhaps, in the grand scheme of public art, that’s not such a bad… Read More

Art

Pic of the Day: LentSpace Is Vandalized, Criticized

By Caroline Stanley on

Last week LentSpace, a temporary public art and sculpture park, opened in downtown Manhattan. According to the New York Times, “The seven sculptural pieces in the inaugural lineup all, in one form or another, incorporate visual puns playing on the conventions of city-park design or on the idea of what deserves to be classified as public art.”Yesterday, Curbed reported that someone vandalized several pieces in the area, tagging them with the phrase “This is not art.” Sadly, we don’t think this is akin to Poster Boy’s MoMA remix last winter.… Read More

Art

Street Report: ReMapping Art in Athens

By Kelsey Keith on

Athens isn’t just crumbly old buildings and emptied Olympic stadiums. A new contemporary arts program called ReMap is taking to the streets with guerrilla-style artwork that blurs the lines between public property, commercial art practice, and vandalism.… Read More

News

Pic of the Day: San Francisco Plays Candyland

By Kelsey Keith on

America’s most notorious crooked street got a makeover yesterday thanks to Hasbro toy company, in what one onlooker described as “capitalism meets childhood.” The occasion? It’s Candyland’s 60th birthday, so show some respect. Respect in the form of life-size playing board winding down Lombard Street and one hyperrealistic… Read More

Art

Exclusive: Q&A With the Re:Construction Initiative’s Karin Bravin

By Laura Feinstein on

Lower Manhattan is full of construction projects, and as development slows due to the economic crisis, once temporary eyesores have become permanent fixtures. This is why the the Alliance for Downtown New York came up with The Re:Construction Initiative, a project which recasts construction sites as canvases for public art. They’ve commissioned several projects over the next few years to beautify lower Manhattan, including four new art installations at construction sites which they hope will “bring color, movement and scenic beauty to downtown streetscapes.” Brought in to curate this exciting new project is BravinLee Programs, the brainchild of partners Karin Bravin and John Lee, who run their namesake gallery in Chelsea full time. We spoke with Bravin about this new project, and why she wants to make downtown a little bit prettier to walk… Read More

Art

Pic of the Day: The Anonymous Hugging Wall

By Caroline Stanley on

This one came from @colinjnagy via Flavorpill’s Twitter feed. For information on the artist, Keetra Dean Dixon, visit her website; find a few additional images of the Hugging Wall after the jump. … Read More

Art

Exclusive: NYC Sculptor Joan Benefiel’s Hudson River Pilings Project

By Corianna Sichel on

You’re walking along the Hudson River near the old Pier 42. It’s sunset, and as you look over the water you marvel at a cluster of 8-foot-tall orange figurines, balancing in precarious positions on top of pilings. Some look joyous, others pensive. Some seem like they’re about to fall head first into the water.

New York sculptor Joan Benefiel has been working with permission from the Hudson River Park Trust for the past two years to make this dream into a reality. On June 11th she previewed her Hudson River Pilings Project, displaying the first full-sized sculpture, a series of 24″ scale models mounted on poles to replicate the pilings, and digital mock-ups. We interviewed Benefiel about the unique characteristics of surf board resin, the inspiration behind the project, her take on public art, and how we can all play a part in making the dream a… Read More