FIGURATIONS: Fashionably Nude Female Sculptures In The Fashion District's Broadway Plaza

Figurations: The Fashion District Pilings Project is a new exhibit on the Broadway Plazas in the Fashion District from 36th to 41st Street. Joan Benefiel created 30 translucent resin female nude sculptures that "provoke and encourage narrative interpretation." The glowing pieces are installed on tall wooden pilings. Although I think the figures are too small for the venue, they appear simultaneously confident and pensive, thoughtful and restless, carefree and precarious. They glow beautifully, the intensity dependent on the amount of light around them. The work was selected by the Fashion Center. The display continues through the end of August.

Joan Benefiel describes the work as follows: “The awkward beauty of these figures in this unlikely environment is symbolic of the balancing act we perform as we make our way in a challenging and changing world. And that includes making our way up and down the packed Broadway blocks in the summer sun. The figures simultaneously convey a sense of precariousness and joy.”

COUNTING SHEEP by Kyu Seok Oh At The Broadway Plaza at 46th Street in Times Square

Kyu Seok Oh's art installation called "Counting Sheep" is now on display in Times Square through March 7 on the northern end of Broadway Plaza between 45th and 46th Streets. Spanning 36 feet long and 12 feet wide, the installation is comprised of 24 uniquely made paper sheep sculptures on 6” to 16” high platforms. All of the sheep are hand-made by the artist himself in a labor-intensive process involving natural and traditional materials. “I like to think that both paper and wood, though processed to be used as structural materials, are in fact very much alive as part of nature,” the artist explains. “A group of white paper sheep suddenly emerging from a corner of Times Square will create a contrast to the intimidating, chaotic atmosphere associated with that sleepless corner of the world. Soft, white, and standing together these sheep will invite the neon covered surrounding buildings and large excited crowds to relax, count sheep, and doze off a little.” The installation is presented by the Times Square Alliance, in partnership with the West Harlem Art Fund, Inc. (information from the Times Square Alliance website). The images above were taken on March 1, 2011. Kyu Seok Oh lives in New York City.

"I wanted to take the energy of New York City and create work that is unorthodox in method but is more direct and immediate. That is how I came up with the idea of working with paper and wood, materials deeply familiar to me since childhood. In Japan, traditional houses were made of mostly paper and wood. While both are used as structural materials, they are very much alive as part of nature. Wood stretches and contracts with the climate. Paper shields the indoors from the wind and the cold, but it also lets in fresh air and light from the outside. Both paper and wood insulate the indoors from the outside while simultaneously bringing in natural air. These subtle tricks of the materials are central to the beauty of Japanese aesthetics and culture. I want to convey this sensibility in my own work." - Kyu Seok Oh (from his website)

Follow up story: A few days after the installation, a woman "decapitated" one of the sheep with her foot. Read more at Gothamist where one of the photos above was used.