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A pair of bronze bulls, as created by artist Peter Woytuck, watch restfully over 168th and Broadway. The bulls are part of an public art project by, in part, the Broadway Mall Association, the non-profit group that maintains the 5.5 mile long garden malls from 70th Street to 168th Street, and that will run until April 2012.
Story and photos by Alexandra Rosario
Uptown and downtown Manhattan will be united through a bronze menagerie on Broadway from now until April 2012.
The Broadway Mall Association, the non-profit group that maintains the 5.5 mile long garden malls from 70th Street to 168th Street, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday morning for the new “Peter Woytuck on Broadway” public art exhibition. The exhibition features nearly 20 bronze sculptures of sheep, ostriches, crows, hens, as well as the life size “Elephant Pair” at Columbus Circle and the 2,500 pound seated “Bulls” at Mitchel Square on 168th Street.
The ambitious project is a collaboration between the Broadway Mall Association, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, the New York City Department of Transportation, and the Morrison Gallery of Kent, Connecticut, Woytuck's primary gallery.
“This type of art exhibition unites the uptown and downtown portions of Broadway and the surrounding community,” said Woytuck.
The exhibition features a bilingual cell phone tour in English and Spanish where individuals can call a phone number at each sculpture to learn more about it.
“As they say, the show must go on, and all the way up to 168th Street, Peter Woytuck has created a beautiful menagerie,” said William Castro, Manhattan Borough Parks Commissioner.
Woytuck is known for his sculptures of animals. He reduces their shapes into essential forms, allowing the power of his subjects to become graceful and whimsical expressions of mass. He also enjoys altering the scale of everyday objects, such as “A Watering Can” on 96th Street or “A Pair” on 107th Street featuring large-scale pears. He creates most of his sculptures in Thailand, where he has art foundries capable of melting up to 10,000 pounds of bronze into a single pour of his work, enabling him to create the larger-than-life pieces installed throughout Broadway. This is Woytuck's first outdoor exhibition in New York City.
Woytuck's exhibition is part of Art on the Malls, the Broadway Mall Association's program to enrich the malls with contemporary art that was launched in 2004 with the artist Tom Otterness.
The Broadway Mall Association works with community residents, businesses, non-profits and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to beautify the garden spaces from the Upper West Side through Washington Heights. To volunteer, donate, or learn more information, please visit www.broadwaymall.org.
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