[title]
More awe-inspiring public art is coming to Manhattan in an installation that makes viewers re-envision what sculpture is and can be.
On Tuesday, June 6, “PRANK” will debut in City Hall Park in Manhattan’s Financial District. Presented by the Public Art Fund, this collection is the late British artist Phyllida Barlow’s final series of large-scale freestanding sculptures. The free, public exhibit will showcase seven new steel and fiberglass sculptures, the artist’s first series of outdoor sculptures made from long-lasting materials.
RECOMMENDED: Share a secret at this new NYC art show, and the artist might actually paint it
“What happens if the art object isn’t a polite object, but rather an unwelcome guest? For a long time I’ve been considering where art ends up and who it is for—’PRANK’ continues this line of inquiry,” artist Phyllida Barlow said in a statement before she passed away in March 2023.
“PRANK” intends to be as playful to experience as the name itself. The sculptures adapt everyday forms such as household furniture, which are then stacked in unexpected, gravity-defying compositions. Each variation is beholden to Barlow’s “rabbit ears” style, which she originally created in the 1990s with a sculptural series reexamining household objects. That series, called ”Object,” was installed on street corners in London.
In “PRANK,” Barlow’s work is intended to be comical, with her signature sense of surprise, mischief, and playfulness. The concept invites passersby to discuss their questions about play, work, art and life.
“With Phyllida Barlow’s characteristic ambition, rigor and irreverence, ‘PRANK’ upends sculptural tradition with captivating invention,” said Public Art Fund Artistic and Executive Director Nicholas Baume. “It feels both apt and poignant that this body of work revisits an earlier motif, adding complexity and embracing the public context. Phyllida takes her iconic ‘rabbit ears’ on a gravity-defying journey of sculptural acrobatics: scaling stairs, grasping edges, and balancing atop improbably accumulated objects to survey their City Hall Park domain.”
“PRANK” will be open from 7am - midnight daily and run through November 26.