You commute past these architectural landmarks on a daily basis and after a while they may start to blend in with the rest of the buildings and sights in the city. If you are a local, however, you've probably been there and done that. If you are visiting Chicago these are probably just a few of your must do's and must see's. “$8 million in Tribeca - it’s the expensive neighborhood in Manhattan - it is perfect here,” he said.The Bean. When asked about its $8 million dollar price tag, a man named Michela responded that he did not think it was worth that much. But the site is already packed with onlookers, a testament to the recognizability of Kapoor’s artwork (for better or for worse). Kapoor’s finished sculpture was only revealed Tuesday, January 31 and has yet to be named, with an official unveiling ceremony to take place in the spring. “It sort of compensates for this sticking up out of the ground that is disproportionately new,” she said. Building the sculpture involved constructing a complex support system and fitting 38 panels, which then needed to be welded and polished. It’s humbling: Kapoor is not asking viewers to reflect on what “art” is, but rather to interact with it.Īnother person looking at the work, an artist who preferred to remain anonymous, said that walking by it made her experience a bout of vertigo - “as if I should be doing something to be upright, and I am upright.” (It also reminds her of the endlessly disorienting and confusing 2010 movie Inception.) “I’m a fan,” she said, adding that she liked where the sculpture was located because it “pushed back” against the city. When you look at your reflection, you also see yourself within the cityscape, which is distorted to appear even wider than it already is. It’s nearly impossible to snap a picture without also capturing the photographer, but as in the original “Cloud Gate,” this feature is what makes the sculpture attractive to so many. On the afternoon of Thursday, February 2, the corner of Leonard and Church streets was thronged with people taking photos of the piece, and of themselves in its mirrored surface. The behemoth tower above it (it’s been nicknamed the “Jenga tower” for its unevenly stacked condos) was completed in 2017 but it already looks much older, an apparent failed push for modernity in an old neighborhood that housed beautiful buildings to begin with. The area behind the sculpture is a dimly lit no-man’s-land that has been blocked off by ugly orange barricades. However, a few imperfections on and around the mini-Bean are impossible to ignore: There are small pockmarks on the reflective surface and the lines of the panels show through in some places. It’s very interesting.” Kapoor’s sculpture has yet to be named or formally designated in a ceremony, but throngs of people were already visiting to take photos. “It’s a liquid form and a smooth form, but it’s steel. “I plate metal and this is very, very inspiring,” Vadim Kondakov, a sculptor who works with metal materials including the same stainless steel used for the Bean, remarked as he admired the work. The project was incredibly labor intensive: 38 metal plates were precisely cut to fit next to one another, attached to an internal support system, welded together, and then polished to create a mirror-like surface. The British installation team was able to return to the city and resume work in September 2021, but the project soon encountered another setback - the sun caused the unfinished sculpture to unevenly heat, and it ruptured. The shiny public artwork has been four years in the making: Construction began in 2019, but the pandemic ground it to a halt. “The little kids are involved in the art - that’s really fun.” She lauded the new Bean’s interactive aspect, pointing out the children hunched underneath the sculpture taking photos. “I know they have one in Chicago and I’ve always felt like they should have one in New York,” said an interior designer who went by Riki.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |