Unique sculptures arrive at Rockefeller Center
New York City, which can at times be considered a giant melting pot and rightfully so, has a brand new art exhibit in its midst in Rockefeller Center with the brand new Frieze Sculpture exhibit. In conjunction with the annual Frieze New York art fair and real estate firm Tishman Speyer, Frieze Sculpture is a major new public art initiative that allows visitors to explore new and significant sculptures across Rockefeller Center by 14 international artists including Goshka Macuga, Ibrahim Mahama, Joan Miró, Paulo Nazareth, Sarah Sze, Hank Willis Thomas and many others.
Located in the heart of the plaza of Rockefeller Center, kiosks can be found giving visitors a list of locations of where to find all 16 sculptures that are a part of the exhibit, allowing eager art-seekers to scour the area looking for the unique and somewhat bizarre art pieces that have been strategically placed within a four-block radius.
Curated by Brett Littman, who is also the director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in nearby Long Island City, Frieze Sculpture also creates a unique dialogue with the built-in art and architecture of Rockefeller Center, which has its history go as far back as the early 1800s.
Since these various sculptures piqued my overall interest, I recently traveled to Rockefeller Center to see firsthand these works of art that I’ve been hearing about from friends. While scavenging around the plaza with my map in hand, I and many others stumbled across Spanish artist Jaume Plensa’s “Behind the Walls,” which is the biggest sculpture of the exhibit, Mexican artist Jose Dávila’s “Joint Effort,” American artist Kiki Smith’s “Rest Upon,” which depicts a lamb resting upon a sleeping girl, and American artist Nick Cave’s “Untitled,” which shows a gramophone and forearm merged together.
Frieze Sculpture runs now through Friday, June 28, at Rockefeller Center. You can download the Frieze app, which is available on iOS and Android devices, and take a guided audio tour of Frieze Sculpture that is narrated by Littman.
To find out more information about Frieze Sculpture, visit www.rockefellercenter.com and click on the “What’s Happening” tab or take a visit to the big city and see them for yourself.
