It was just about a year ago when I was walking down Broadway on my way to see a publicity rep of note that I discovered a public art display that was really interesting. They called it the Sidewalk Catwalk or something of that nature and it was the kind of thing that made me glad that I almost always carry some kind of camera with me on my NYC wanderings. You truly never know what you are going to see during the course of the day in this amazing city. That brings me to this next blog posting, “The Figurations of the Fashion District”. The journey begins here on 36th Street and Broadway. The sign below comes from a few blocks lower of course but I added it here for dramatic effect.
Once you enter the Fashion District of NYC, the visuals and style are slightly upgraded and that is a very good thing since its so appealing to the wandering eye. I am of course speaking of the art displays and pedestrian plaza and not the people, but they are often rather stylish themselves in case you wondered. So where was I? Oh yes, so on Monday while heading down Broadway after a film screening with our good buddy Skeleton Pete we realized that a new installation had been set up in the Fashion District and this was rather unique as well. Out came the cameras for proper documentation.
The full title is “Figurations: The Fashion District Pilings Project” and it was created by Joan Benefiel. There are about thirty of these resin statues and according to some of the other blogs that have made mention of them, glow. I could not discern this fast during the middle of the day when I passed them so I shall have to take the other writers word for it. The pilings aspect comes from these stylishly nude female statues being perched upon wooden piles. I snapped these shots with the Panasonic Lumix camera and only did about a half dozen of the ones that were on display.
The resin figures all appear to be balancing themselves on the wooden pilings and some appear rather precarious in their state. I liked them but did feel that too many people might not be seeing them based on their actual size. If I had to guess from the distance of street to the top of the piles, I would say that most of the figures were just over a foot. They were about seven or eight feet above the sidewalk which prevents tampering by the passing public. I hope so at least.
I rather enjoyed this public exhibit and thank Joan Benefiel for sharing it with all of us
By now you should be thinking to yourself that carrying some kind of camera with you around the city is a good idea because you never know what you might see or miss if you do not.
As mentioned I did not attempt to shoot photos of all thirty of the figures and in all honesty when I was passing this exhibit I really didn’t know that there were that many. I figured that readers would get and enjoy the picture just the same with only a handful of the images being delivered. Sometimes less is more. Well, they say that it is at least 🙂
How To See It: Hit the Fashion District Pedestrian Plaza on Broadway between 36th and 41st Street to enjoy these but know that this will only be there until the end of August 2011. If you miss it, there are these and likely hundreds of other images online for you to appreciate and you can even click on Joan’s website below for good measure.
Official Website: http://www.figurationstudio.com/