I was never really a Madison Square Park goer always opting for the slightly closer and larger Central Park. But lately I've been making quite a few trips down to 23rd and Fifth Ave: burgers at Shake Shack, a writing group meeting and this past weekend's Big Apple BBQ Block Party. Once there, it won't take long before you start noticing the naked men around you.
This is all part of the park's current public art exhibition, Event Horizon by Antony Gormley, which consists of 31 life-size iron and fiberglass forms of the artist making their mark throughout the park and on the rooftops of buildings in the Flatiron District - even the Empire State Building. Gormley's goal? To play with perception, make us aware of our surroundings and think about how we fit into the urban landscape.
"My intention is to get the sculptures as close to the edge of the buildings as possible," Gormley says. "The field of the installation should have no defining boundary. The gaze is the principle dynamic of the work; the idea of looking and finding, or looking and seeking, and in the process perhaps re-assessing your own position in the world."
It's a little creepy at first, but soon enough you'll be playing Spot the Naked Statue and walking around while gazing up at the sky. How many can you find without resorting to the map?
Event Horizon will be on view at Madison Square Park through August 15.
Image: madisonsquarepark.org