Saint Clair Cemin's "In The Center" On Broadway

Brazilian artist Saint Clair Cemin is exhibiting seven of his sculptures in parks and pedestrian malls along Broadway between 57th and 157th Streets in Manhattan. The exhibition is being presented by the Broadway Mall Association in collaboration with the Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea. The exhibit includes the sculpture pictured above called “In the Center” (2002), a seven-foot-tall semiabstract figure sporting a gaucho hat and holding a divining rod, installed on the Broadway median at 79th Street. According to the artist, the sculpture’s title is related to his mother’s property, where the family survived on well water. “Art is perception,” he said, “and in the center of perception is this strange faceless giant that looks for things — looks for water — and finds it.” The exhibition runs through January 2013.

Great White Way Becomes Great Walkway: Broadway Street Closing

Several blocks of Broadway (42nd-47th in Times Square; 33rd-35th in Herald Square) closed to vehicle traffic starting today. This is an experiment that turns the "Great White Way" into pedestrian malls in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's effort to reduce traffic congestion in midtown. The city plans to keep the street closing through the end of the year, and if the experiment works, they could become permanent.