Full Steam Ahead: Arlene Shechet at Madison Square Park
New York, NY | 2018
Artist Arlene Shechet was commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy to create a new site-specific installation for the Park, on view from September 25, 2018, through April 28, 2019. Marking the Conservancy’s thirty-seventh exhibition and the artist’s first major public art project, Full Steam Ahead features a series of new sculptures in porcelain, wood, steel, and cast iron installed around and within the emptied circular reflecting pool in the north of Madison Square Park. Her installation straddles art and function by including seating for conversation and fostering interaction within the Park’s teeming urban site. Park lighting was limited to six lights on two poles. Through the use of blue gels, the installation was bathed in cool moonlight, delicately demarcating the work from the warmer post-top lanterns of the park and the surrounding square.
