Erik Guzman's latest sculpture, "Weather Beacon" is an engaging piece that transforms atmospheric information into flashing lights and moving parts. It is currently on display at the Wold Financial Center Plaza until the end of the year. The kinetic sculpture translates weather data received via radio waves into visual representation of the elements of the environment of the four seasons.
“Part of our mission is to present art that prompts the casual passerby to stop for a closer look and leave a little bit more enlightened than before,” said Debra Simon, Artistic Director of Arts World Financial Center. “‘Weather Beacon’ takes an element of daily life that most people take for granted and transforms it into a gorgeous, thought-provoking sculpture that will mesmerize viewers of all ages.”
Manhattan Oil Project, is an installation by Josephine Meckseper near the heart of Times Square presented by the Art Production Fund. The German-born artist showcases two new monumental simulated oil pump jacks, each standing 25 feet tall, bobbing up and down at the Last Lot project space at the southeast corner of 46th Street and 8th Avenue. The artist explains: “The sculptures are about where we are now. They are an image of the tenuous moment that we find ourselves in as a nation and human kind as our dependency on oil becomes the focal point of politics and people’s personal sphere.” By introducing pump jacks, a familiar symbol of American oil-producing towns, into a context more typically defined by eye-popping electronic billboards and dazzling lights, “I wanted to show the consequences, or the flip side, of what we actually have to do to provide all of that energy,” the artist added. The installation will be on display until May 6th. The still images and video were taken with an iPhone 4 on March 19, 2012.
