Posts by Vincenzo Rutigliano

Debuting at this years Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be a 48-foot tall balloon titled Figure with Heart by the late artist Keith Haring. The balloon is based on Haring's ink on paper drawing, Untitled (Figure with Heart), 1987 and will be part of the Macy's Parade's Blue Sky Gallery series, which aims to "inject contemporary art into a pop culture phenomenon". (Pop Art In The Sky) The Blue Sky Gallery series began in 2005 with Humpty Dumpty by Tom Otterness, preceded by “Rabbit” by Jeff Koons in 2007. To learn more about the artist Keith Haring visit the Library and look through our books in the online catalog, as well as go to the Keith Haring Foundation 

 In looking around for a keepsake to remind me of this historic election for President of the United States, I came across a pin of the Obama Progress poster. I was surprised to learn that the poster was done by a street artist named Shepard Fairey. It is amazing to see how graffiti artists have come up in the art world, from Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring to Banksy and now Shepard Fairey, who will have his first museum retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.  I came across the website ‘Pictorial Americana’ by the Print Division of the Library of Congress, which has presidential campaign images from 1836 to 1908. A number of these 

During the weekend of June 7th, the National Park Service literally moved the home of Alexander Hamilton, known as the Hamilton Grange National Memorial, two blocks over to the hillside corner of St. Nicholas Park. 

The federal style country home built by the architect, John McComb Jr., was completed in 1802 and named "The Grange" after the Hamilton family's ancestral home in Scotland. Though this is not the first time that the Hamilton Grange has moved…in 1889 it was moved from its original location in upper Manhattan to Convent Avenue. The decision to relocate the home once again stemmed from the neighboring buildings that sandwiched the 

Ever wish you could see what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean…well now you can go down to the Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn Bridge and take a peek at what is going on in London. 

The Telectroscope by the artist Paul St George, a brass and wood telescope, 37 feet long by 11 feet tall…will visually connect New Yorkers to people in London, where an identical scope will sit on the banks of the Thames in the shadow of Tower Bridge. Spectators who step right up will have a real-time, life-size view across the pond 24 hours a day. From Telescope Takes a Long View, to London by Melena Ryzik in the NYTimes

Or should I say Memorial Day. In this case have a good Memorial Day Weekend.

Memorial Day, also known as Decoration Day, is an official U.S. holiday, celebrated on the last Monday in the month of May, to honor the men and women that have died in military service. “It originated during the American Civil War (1861–64) when citizens placed flowers on the graves of those who had been killed in battle.” Encyclopædia Britannica Article  Soldiers Memorial Day

If you like Japanese anime and manga you should see the new © Murakami exhibition (April 5-July 13, 2008) at the Brooklyn Museum. This is the first major retrospective on the works of Japanese artist/designer Takashi Murakami, who is known as the Warhol of Japan. It focuses on his work from 1991-2000, “when the artist began exploring his own reality through an investigation of branding and identity." From "© MURAKAMI: Brooklyn Museum Photo Gallery”

Last night, while I was looking for a place to eat with my family in the Greenwich Village, I came across several light posts that were beautifully covered with tiles and glass. This sparked my interest once again about the different types of Street Art around the City.

Billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud plans to build the world's tallest building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It will be a mile tall skyscraper, “taller than four Empire State Buildings stacked upon each other.” From “Billionaire Plans To Start Mile-High Building Club” (Forbes.com, 02.25.08)

Currently in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Dubai tower is being constructed. Though still in construction, it has just beat the record for the world’s tallest man-made structure, reaching more than 160 stories high (2,064 feet).

It appears that in 1956 American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a mile high (5,280 feet) skyscraper 

Recently the well known dance club Webster Hall (building, not the club) was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Built in 1886 by architect Charles Rentz, Webster Hall became one of the country’s first modern nightclubs. According the Webster Hall website “It was where the original bohemians, like Emma Goldman, Marcel DuChamp and Margaret Sangor, created unique costume balls to benefit nascent social and political causes.” From the Gothamist article “Hailing Webster Hall”

It is especially important for this building because all around it older buildings are being torn down to be replaced by 20- or 30-story 

It is cold outside today in New York City, but not quite as cold as in Ohio, where even the trees appear to be longing for warmth. In the Associated Press there is an article titled “Knitters Dress up Trees for Public Art,” by James Hannah, which discusses the art of the “knitknot tree" project on Xenia Avenue in Yellow Springs, Ohio, “known for its offbeat art”.

“Wrapped around the trunk is a colorful, crazy-quilt skin made up of panels of yarn knitted individually by residents and visitors alike. Good-luck charms cling to the yarn. Family photos, poems and jokes peek out of knitted pockets.”    

In passing by Rockefeller Center one would think it was still Christmas time. Did they forget to take down the tree? or Maybe their keeping it up year round? Hoping people would feel joyful all year long… Actually standing in front of Rockefeller Center behind the statue of Prometheus is the “Electric Fountain”. A fountain of lights 35 feet tall and consisting of 3,390 LED bulbs that simulate the motion of water: “streaming, pooling, splashing and flowing, creating a hypnotic experience for viewers”. It is an installation by British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster, and is presented by the Art Production Fund.  

"Electric 

A new headquarters for The New York Times is being built on 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st Street. It is a 52 story building designed by the architect Renzo Piano. To document the construction of the tower is photographer Annie Leibovitz. The art project is titled “Building the Times: Photographs by Annie Leibovitz”.

http://nymag.com/

It is reminiscent of the photographs of the Empire State Building by Lewis Wickes Hine, as well as Margaret Bourke-White’s photos of the Chrysler Building.

Leibovitz’s is best known for her work at Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue. In 2005, her photos took the first two spots for the best magazine covers of the past 40 

I came across an animated version of the Bayeux Tapestry in YouTube. The tapestry, an embroidery on wool cloth, “is 231 feet long and 19.5 inches wide, and contains more than 70 scenes representing the events that led up to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.” It depicts the last successful invasion of Britain by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and the defeat of King Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon King (in the video: he is the character struck in the eye with an arrow). It was made presumably for Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (1030–97) and half brother of William, circa 1080.

The Norman Conquest was a pivotal event in English 

I came across an interesting article in the Art Newspaper titled “Statues in Britain are revolting—and so are we: The British art world has had enough of “Frankenstein monster memorials”.” (2.7.08, issue 188) It discusses the backlash or “fightback against “bad” public sculpture in the UK” toward the “unprecedented number of tasteless statues that have appeared across the country.” The editor of The Burlington Magazine, Richard Shone complains that “the infestation of public places...by statues and memorials...is now of serious concern.” He goes on to describe a statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square 

Walking into the Modern Art wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I came across what I thought was a shark tank. For a second I had to step back thinking I entered the American Museum of Natural History by mistake.

But what I encountered was “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” by English artist Damien Hirst. A tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde encased in a glass cabinet.

“Hirst created work that brought together the joy of life and the inevitability of death…A shark in a tank of formaldehyde presented a once life-threatening beast as a carcass: the glass box, half hunting trophy, half homage to the 

Mayor Bloomberg and the Public Art Fund have announced that Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has been commissioned to build four man-made Waterfalls in the East River, at the southern tip of Manhattan (one near the Brooklyn Bridge).

The artist has “designed what will likely be the city's biggest public art project since Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "The Gates". The installation will consist of a series of freestanding waterfalls in the East River…the waterfalls will rise about 60 to 70 feet above the water — more than half as high as the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge.” From a New York Sun article titled “Waterfalls as Art 

On January 24, 1984 Apple Inc. introduced us to the Macintosh.

During a break in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII (January 22, 1984) a television commercial by Apple was aired to promote the Macintosh personal computer. The ad showed an unnamed heroine (played by Anya Major) wearing red shorts, red running shoes, and a white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apple’s Macintosh computer, running through an Orwellian world to throw a sledgehammer at a TV image of Big Brother — an implied representation of IBM.”

This was followed by an on screen message and voice over stating: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. 

In this past hectic season of Christmas shopping and looking for something different to buy, I came across a sight titled “New York City Garbage”. Yep,  one can buy garbage, but not just any, it's “New York City Garbage”, by Justin Gignac.

The artist has set up a simple and straightforward website that provides just enough information to peak ones interest. There’s a PDF Press Kit (lower left hand corner) that provides information about the artist, the pieces and publications/programs.

Within the PDF is the “Anatomy of New York City Garbage”, which provides a brief description of what the pieces consist of. Read the 

According to an AM New York article “Guerilla artists don’t want bench back“, an 8-foot-tall bench mysteriously appeared on Houston Street about two weeks ago. It goes on to say, “All this work, once it’s installed, it’s kind of just left to the fates,” said Tod Seelie, who collaborated with street artist Brad Downey on the bench and photographed its stealth installation in the middle of the night. “The idea is to see how time changes it.”

It would have been interesting to see people’s reaction walking/driving by the bench. Unfortunately, it appears that the bench has been taken down and since the artists