“Curtain Call” by Karon Davis

Hovering thirty feet above Manhattan’s west side on our beloved High Line is Karon Davis’  graceful sculpture of a ballerina taking her final bow at the end of a performance aptly named “Curtain Call”.  Known for her sculptures and installations that incorporated dance, theater, and moving images, for this piece Ms. Davis drew inspiration from her family, crafting the sculpture as an homage to her parents and sister who were all professional dancers.

The artist’s sculpture of a ballerina at the end of a grueling performance captures the mental and physical toll a dancer goes through to put on a show. To bring the dancer’s experience to life, Davis leveraged a mix of 3D scanning technology with traditional sculpting techniques, creating a bronze figure based on a plaster cast of ballerina Jasmine Perry. The work is part of Davis’ series Beauty Must Suffer, which examines the “life and labor” of Black ballerinas. This installation will be available at the High Line at 23rd Street until its last bow in November 2024.

“Thank You Darling” by Lily Van Der Stokker

With its commitment to bringing contemporary art to all via public spaces, strolling through the High Line is a wonderful way to not only get our steps in but also to catch an array of ever-changing art installations. One of the newest additions along the High Line is a colorful, whimsical mural strategically painted on a building facing the High Line on 22nd Street stating “Thank You Darling” in bubble letters by Lily Van Der Stokker.

Ms. Van Der Stokker, who hails from the Netherlands, is known for using a confectioner’s pastel color scheme in her artwork to depict elements traditionally thought of as feminine such as clouds, flowers, and swirls as the backdrop to convey short messages like "Thank You Darling." Van Der Stokker’s work, which has been referred to as “feminist conceptual pop art,” is meant to be cheery but also aims to spark conversations regarding feminism and womanhood. "Thank You Darling" brings a moment of gratitude and joy to all who pass by it, serving as a delightful reminder to pause and take a moment of appreciation amidst the hustle and bustle of the busy city!

“What if They Bark?” by Cosima von Bonin

After a day filled with legal work, we decided to take a leisurely stroll along the High Line. To our surprise, we encountered a delightful scene—a school of fish engaged in a performance! Crafted by German artist Cosima von Bonin these fish are arranged like a military band, holding musical instruments and checkered missiles. Von Bonin, who has a deep interest in marine life, frequently incorporates these whimsical aquatic creatures into her art.

This light-hearted installation was inspired by the classical statue arrangements seen in ancient Greek temples. However, departing from the customary depictions of gods and heroes, the artist places sea creatures on land, engaging in human-like activities such as playing music. Fortunately for von Bonin's fans, she has created numerous similar installations and sculptures, which have been housed in the past at prestigious New York art institutions such as MoMA and the Petzel Gallery. 

"Old Tree" by Pamela Rosenkranz

With its roots planted upon the High Line Plinth and standing twenty-five feet tall at the Spur on 10th Avenue and West 30th Street, Swiss artist Pamela Rosenkranz has cultivated a beaming reddish pink hued tree at the elevated New York City Park. “Old Tree” prompts us to consider the interrelation between human and plant life as its color and shape “resembles the branching systems of human organs, blood vessels, and tissue.” Known for her juxtaposition of what is natural and what is human Ms. Rosenkranz’ “Old Tree” is rooted in such a way “as if the tree would like to leave its planter”, in a quest to escape the urban jungle it will call home for the next eighteen months.

“Freedom’s Stand” by Faheem Majeed

As we celebrate Black History Month, we look upon the work of artist, curator, community facilitator, and educator Faheem Majeed,  a modern-day Renaissance Man who creates works of art focused on institutional critique and cultural experiences. Mr. Majeed’s current installation on display at The High Line “Freedom’s Stand” pays homage to Freedom’s Journal, the first Black-owned-and operated newspaper in New York City that was launched in 1827 to counter act existing newspapers at the time that encouraged slavery and attacked African Americans. Drawing inspiration from a range of renowned, community driven work including Chicago’s Wall of Respect and the Community Mural Movement, the artist’s sculpture, modeled after West Mali’s Dogon Tribe granaries, exhibits  a sampling of headlines, photographs, ads, and articles from historical and present day Black newspapers. The monthly changing content educates spectators on vital issues, as Freedom’s Journal educated the Black community hundreds of years ago.

“Windy” by Meriem Bennani

Along the High Line at 24th Street sits­—or rather, spins—a new sculpture by New York-based artist Meriem Bennani. “Windy”, a spinning sculpture in the shape of a tornado and made of black foam, plays with traditions of public sculpture, as well as with what visuals and motions constitute the increasingly fast pace of life in New York City. The 9-foot-tall sculpture, on display until next May, is in non-stop motion powered by electrical bike motors, built to both withstand and interact with all four seasons of New York weather. The piece, which marks Benanni’s first public sculpture and her most abstract work to date, exists as an homage to the dynamism and constant movement of the city and the High Line specifically, capturing in art the urban energy of the place we call home. The frantic and perpetual motion of the sculpture “captures the experience of walking through New York City’s crowded streets and the frequency of movement on the High Line, one of the city’s most visited public parks. “Windy” is a poignant visual of New York City’s frenzied and intoxicating energy”.  

"You Know Who I Am" by Paola Pivi

The Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor and has welcomed people to New York since 1886. For decades, immigrants processed through Ellis Island saw the enormous copper statue upon arriving at US shores. Though Ellis Island no longer processes arrivals to the US, the statue remains an iconic symbol of freedom and welcome. In a new work called “You Know Who I Am,” on view on the High Line in New York City, artist Paola Pivi has repurposed the image of the statue to reflect on those ideas of freedom and welcome in the US today. She created a smaller-scale replica of the Statue of Liberty and added a series of emoji-style masks, each representing “an individual whose experience of freedom is connected to the United States, offering the sentiment that anyone could be represented within the symbol of the statue.” Currently, the mask portrays Marco Saavedra, “an artist, poet, restauranteur, longtime immigrant rights activist, and community organizer based in the South Bronx.” After many years of activism and organizing, Saavedra set a legal precedent for undocumented activists when he was granted political asylum in 2021. The image of his face on the iconic statue puts the history of American immigration in conversation with the modern immigration landscape.

Listen to an interview with Mr. Saavedra here.

George Rickey on the Highline

One of the most influential American sculptors of the twentieth century, George Rickey spent much of his long career fascinated with the movements of the wind. He was captivated by “the waving of branches and the trembling of stems, the piling up or scudding of clouds, the rising and setting and waxing and waning of heavenly bodies.” His most famous sculptures reflect this preoccupation with movement. Rickey developed a distinct style of kinetic sculptures: simple, large-scale forms that were carefully balanced and calibrated to move with the slightest breeze. Several of these simple, gently moving pieces are currently on view at Kasmin Gallery’s rooftop sculpture garden in Chelsea, viewable from the High Line. The three works visible there, Five Lines in Parallel Planes, Peristyle II, and Two Red Lines, are all made up of elegant steel spikes, precisely balanced to sway and dip with the movements of the air. All created in the 1960s and 1970s, these pieces are emblematic of the sculptor’s signature style.

Somos 11 Millones/We Are 11 Million

Somos 11 Millones/We Are 11 Million by Andrea Bowers (with Movimiento Cosecha)

Los Angeles-based artist Andrea Bowers uses video, drawing, and installation pieces to combine art and activism in the struggle for social justice. For this piece on the High Line, Bowers collaborated with the immigrant rights activist group Movimiento Cosecha to write a slogan in support of DREAMers. The neon sign reading “Somos 11 Millones / We Are 11 Million” references the number of undocumented immigrants in the US. The piece is part of a group exhibition on the High Line that looks at the “power of art to change society, the role of art in public space, and whether art can be a form of protest.”

I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door

I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door by Dorothy Iannone.

Dorothy Iannone, a Berlin-based artist, has created a large-scale mural installation near 22nd Street on the High Line. Iannone's work is inspired by Egyptian frescoes, Byzantine mosaics, and ancient fertility statues. In between her three colorful Statues of Liberty is the final line from Emma Lazarus’s poem The New Colossus: “I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door.” The mural re-imagines the Statue of Liberty "anew as a symbol of the openness of New York City and the United States to those seeking asylum, freedom, or simply a better life" and also brings "a bit of joy to an often exhausting and demoralizing political debate." The mural is on the High Line through March 2019.