Displaying items by tag: Public Art

Postwar public art in England is “disappearing before our eyes”, whether through wilful destruction, accidental loss, theft or sale, a heritage body has said.

Historic England is launching a campaign to raise awareness of how much art is being lost, whether metal sculptures being stolen and sold for scrap or architectural friezes being deliberately ripped down by developers.

The airport is not often a site for the calm contemplation of beautiful things. For most, it’s a place of extreme stress: the stress of securing your ticket, checking your bags, waiting in security, taking off your shoes, pulling out those liquids, locating your gate — and if you’re on time — purchasing overpriced snacks for your snack-less flight.

Or, if you’re like me before a recent transcontinental flight, you’re simply sprinting through the airport in your socks, praying you make to the gate in time.

Yesterday we noticed that a copy of Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” in Chicago is in the works in Karamay, China, promoted as a giant, stainless steel drop of oil. The artist is still unknown, but it’s definitely not Kapoor, who was “shocked at the blatant plagiarism” of his work when news of the Cloud Gate-gate reached him in London.

“It seems that in China today it is permissible to steal the creativity of others,” Kapoor said in a statement sent to Hyperallergic. “I feel I must take this to the highest level and pursue those responsible in the courts. I hope that the Mayor of Chicago will join me in this action. The Chinese authorities must act to stop this kind of infringement and allow the full enforcement of copyright.”

Public funding for the arts has rarely been stable in recent years, and private philanthropy is often locally focused. But not always.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, announced that it has chosen cities across the United States to receive grants of up to $1 million to support public art projects. The funds will go to four projects, in Los Angeles; Gary, Ind.; Spartanburg, S.C.; and a joint proposal from three New York cities — Albany, Schenectady and Troy.

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic organisation has named four US cities to receive up to $1m to fund temporary public art projects.

Bloomberg Philanthropies first Public Art Challenge Grant asked cities with a population of more than 30,000 to submit proposals for projects that involve artists, arts organisations and the local government while also addressing civic issues.

If you’re near the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway, be sure to look up. A new, high-flying piece of public art began to take shape on Sunday morning.

Dozens of workers closed nearby streets and set to work installing the new piece of public art using a battery of cranes and scissor lifts.

Brookline artist Janet Echelman designed the 600-foot shimmering fiber sculpture made of polyethylene rope to respond fluidly to the wind and weather.

On Saturday the Bruce Museum opens up to “Walls of Color – The Murals of  Hans Hofmann,” marking the first exhibition to focus on the artist’s varied and under-appreciated public mural projects.

Hans Hofmann is famed for his dynamic approach to color,” says the show’s curator Dr. Kenneth Silver, New York University Professor of Modern Art as well as an Adjunct Curator of Art at the Bruce Museum. “He was a towering figure among New York School painters. He was also the most important teacher and theoretician of the Abstract Expressionist movement.”

enver's new The Art hotel on Tuesday proved it will live up to its name, unveiling a list of art-world stars — living, dead, local and international — whose work will decorate its public spaces.

Names include legends, such as the late, 20th-century icon Sol LeWitt, whose brilliant red, yellow and blue "Wall Drawing #397," from 1983, will fill a wall that greets visitors entering from the street.

There are also upcoming notables, including Leo Villareal, best known for a piece called "The Bay Lights," which illuminated the San Francisco Bay Bridge for two years ending in March. For the ceiling of the outdoor portico, Villareal will create a piece made of thousands of lights programmed to flash in patterns.

London’s Trafalgar Square, full of tourists, pigeons and military monuments, has a new occupant — a skeletal horse displaying stock quotes.

German artist Hans Haacke’s “Gift Horse” was unveiled Thursday atop the square’s “fourth plinth,” a major platform for public art.

The work is a skeleton horse with a London Stock Exchange ticker tied to its leg.

The city of Sacramento and the Kings have agreed to commission world-renowned artist Jeff Koons to create a sculpture for outside the new downtown arena.

In what is the largest budget for a public art installation in the region’s history, the Kings, the city and three team owners will pay $8 million for the art. Another $1.5 million from the Kings and local philanthropist and artist Marcy Friedman will commission work from local artists to be displayed at the arena.

Koons’ sculpture will be the fifth in his “Coloring Book” collection, a series of towering stainless steel sculptures that have been displayed in some of the most prominent art museums in the world.