The High Line is one of our favorite spots in the city, and we are enjoying the last sunny days of fall by exploring the current contemporary art exhibitions on view. The installation “Secondary Forest” by Italian artist Giulia Cenci stands at 24th street, welcoming visitors to investigate the intersection of human forms and organic elements. The sculptures depict animals, plants, and human appendages created from melted down scrap metal to create a forest that has regenerated after human-caused disturbances, much like the Highline itself. In fact, the artist described how the unique location of the exhibit, which hovers above NYC’s Meatpacking District, where slaughterhouses once stood and chic restaurants and shops now line the streets, influenced her work. As the artist explains, “[T]he High Line is a beautiful work itself; I immediately loved the way nature has been growing and devouring a manmade infrastructure. I started to fantasize about an area where different people, animals, plants, machines, and invisible entities are meeting and crossing.” Cenci’s thought-provoking work will be displayed through March 2025.
“The Great Elephant Migration” by The Coexistence Collective
After a long journey, “The Great Elephant Migration” has finally made its way to New York City. The herd will call the Meatpacking District home for the next few weeks, inviting us all to walk alongside the elephants as they explore the neighborhood. The traveling herd of 100 pachyderm models are each inspired by an individual living elephant in the Nilgiri Hills region of Southern India, and the sculptures are constructed by indigenous artisans and contemporary artists. The majestic elephants are meant to mimick “how it is when you’re in India, with the elephants walking through the streets” according to Dodie Kazanjian, the founder of the Rhode Island nonprofit Art&Newport, who curated the elephants’ US tour.
We last caught up with the elephants in London back in 2021 and are thrilled to visit them again in our backyard! A must see for kids of all ages, the installation will leave us October 20th and travel throughout the US through 2025.
El Toro de Oro by Enrique Cabrera
The bronze Charging Bull statue that has come to represent the US stock market has been on display in Manhattan’s Financial District since 1989. Nearby, in the Meatpacking District, a brand-new bronze bull sculpture is on view. Mexican sculptor Enrique Cabrera’s El Toro de Oro, which translates to ‘The Golden Bull,’ is an homage to the neighborhood’s past and future. The butcher block-inspired pedestal is a nod to the slaughterhouses and meat packing and processing plants that once defined the neighborhood. The shiny, multifaceted sculpture sparkles in the sunlight atop this platform, celebrating the neighborhood’s reincarnation as a vibrant nightlife and high-end food epicenter. The contrast is “a visual representation of the Meatpacking District’s immense transformation over the last two decades.”
"Untitled (Four Arches)" at the High Line
The beloved High Line has re-opened! Now requiring a timed ticket, the High Line has re-opened at reduced capacity and with additional safety protocols in place. For those who need to get out of the house for a walk outside, now is a perfect time to check out the High Line’s vibrant foliage and art, including work by American artist Sam Falls. For his piece, Untitled (Four Arches), Falls created four ceramic archways using original steel rail tracks from the High Line. Each of the four archways is dedicated to a different season in the park. To design the piece, Falls collected plants from the High Line over one year, embedded the plants in ceramic, and fossilized them with colorful pigments. What else? Don’t forget to vote.
Gulliver's Gate
A mix of our old and new neighborhood.
Gulliver's Gate, located in Times Square, is a fascinating new $40 million miniature exhibit featuring scenes from fifty nations around the world. The miniatures include iconic landmarks, monuments, and world wonders, all brought to life with a blend of modern technology that includes self-driving cars, trains, and moving trams, coupled with stunning attention to old-fashioned model craftsmanship. Top artists from around the world came together to create the buildings and scenes that include 1,000 trains, 10,000 cars and 100,000 tiny people. The New York City section, titled "Metropolis," took nearly a year to make.
"Gulliver's Gate is both tiny and fascinating and overwhelming all at the same time," Jason Hackett, the attraction's chief marketing officer, tells CNet. "A big theme for us is this idea of reveal and how scale can help you understand the world better." While not geographical correct, we enjoyed the part of the New York City scene that mixed buildings from our old neighborhood in the Meatpacking District (hello, Standard Hotel and Whitney Museum!) with our new neighborhood (hello, Penn Station!). Also check out the rooftop party and that one hotel room in the Standard which may or may not feature exhibitionists!
Segmented Realities
Segmented Realities by José Parlá at the Standard Hotel.
Artist José Parlá's recent artwork, titled Segmented Realities, is about immigration, so it's appropriate that it sits kitty-corner from our office in front of the Standard Hotel. Using his hands to shape the thick paint on these concrete slabs, the sculptures represent the translated memories from various places of his upbringing: San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he partly lived as a child; Miami, Florida, where he was born and raised; and Havana, Cuba, where his family originates from. In Document magazine, Parlá says the separate pieces "play the role of immigration" and the sculpture as a whole "carries the history of...who we are as people, who I am as a person[.]" Claire Darrow, creative director for the Standard hotels, likes the contrast between the hotel’s sleek glass and metal architecture with the artwork's rough concrete slabs. “They remind me of what the neighborhood used to be like,” she says in the New York Times, “what’s missing from the neighborhood now.”
"Do Something Creative Every Day"
Down the street from our office at The Paper Source at 14th Street and 9th Avenue.