Park Art

Everyday I walk through Madison Square Park on my way to school and every so often the park has a new art project in it. Past displays include tree houses in the trees, 8 foot tall concrete shapes on the grass, and a ring of lights around the park that light up to people's heart rates when they put their hands on sensors.

About a month ago on my way to school I came across one of these in the middle of the pedestrian area in front of the flat iron building. At first I couldn't tell if this was a statue or a guy in a body suit or body paint and just standing still (not entirely out of the question around here). Either way I gave him a wide birth as I walked past him. I didn't really know what to make of a naked metal statue in the middle of the sidewalk and was even more confused to find another one on the other side of the park too. But I guess that's art right?


I walked past these guys for about another week before I heard someone talking about something on top of buildings. On top of many of the buildings surrounding the park are more of these statues. Turns out there are 31 of these guys in all. As you can imagine, at first there were some problems with people thinking they were jumpers, especially from the one on the empire state building, but now they have settled in and are a part of the park. They are the sentinels of the park keeping watch at all times.


I actually kind of like watching people crane their necks around and do a double take when they see them for the first time. People love taking pictures with these guys, and putting hats, scarves and coats on them.

The whole thing has sort of grown on me.