I spent some time in NYC lately and one of my destinations was the Gormley installation of 31 life-sized male figures (himself) in and around Madison Square Park. Called “Event Horizon”, the same installation had created a stir in London when it was therein 2007. The artist said he hoped
to do the same in NYC. I tore the map of locations out of the Times and headed south on the downtown train.
These iron and glass fiber guys (complete with casting holes) appear both at ground level and on the tops of buildings around the Square. Some people seem oblivious to them. Others are all about finding them. (I handed my map to a fellow shutter-bug when I was finished). Still others, startled, try to figure them out. Of course, there are the inevitable interactions that public art screams for. They (the statues) aren’t great works of art. They aren’t even particularly good sculpture. They’re just jogs to the brain and as such, fill their destiny well.
Today I learned that they’ve garnered some extra attention from the more or less observant public. According to Artdaily, http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=37491, NYPD has received 10 calls in the past few weeks reporting the presence of jumpers on high places, including one on the venerable Empire State Building which has hosted its share of real jumpers, the last being on March 30. When the pieces were set up in London, some were on bridges, so I expect that reactions might have been similar. Before they were installed, the NYPD had warned the public about them, and some citizens complained that it might bring the trauma of the 9/11 jumpers back to the apparently mimosan public.The citizens are to be lauded for observance and compassion. I hope this won’t be reason to ban similar high level exhibits in the future.
Gormley ahs won prizes for his infinitely repeating figure installations in the past, but the project of his that I liked the best involved the famous Fourth Plinth in London. This empty plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square has been host to revolving installations over the past decade. When Gormely took a shot of it, he arranged for citizens and celebrities to each take an hour on the plinth around the clock for 100 days. It would be a great idea in NYC as homage to her fave adopted son- Warhol.
