Art Steps Outside@Art

Ken Johnson writes:
"Outdoor art once honored heroic individuals and upheld values that whole populations could embrace. Today, excepting memorials like the Vietnam veterans wall, outdoor art serves rather to divert, amuse and comfort."

A striking illustration of that old-new dichotomy straddles East 60th Street and the southeastern corner of Central Park. On the north side is "The Ego and the Id," by Franz West, on East 60th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times

Meanwhile, on the south side of the street, is a bigger-than-life gilded-bronze sculpture of the Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. His career is the subject of an indoor show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times

"The exhibition of almost four dozen works from the museum's collection displays a kind of traditional skill and idealism that practically no one possesses anymore."A miniature cameo portraits of John Tuffs, circa 1861.

Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art

"With petals inscribed with eyes and other petals in the form of crystals, the seven bronze and stainless-steel sculptures by James Surls on Park Avenue between 57th and 51st Streets hint at psychedelic experience. But that aspect is neutralized by the colorless metal and a stylistic decorum that turns them into innocuous garden sculptures."

Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times

In the same neighborhood, at the Lever House Lobby, is a more eye-grabbing sculpture by Tara Donovan. Ms. Donovan's untitled piece consists of 2,500 pounds of plastic sheeting loosely folded into a wide box that is glassed in on the front and back and built into a freestanding white wall.

Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times

"At first you notice the serpentine pattern formed by the edges of the plastic material. Then a remarkable optical effect kicks in. Light pouring through from either side reflects on the shiny surfaces of the plastic folds, producing a shimmering, kaleidoscopic effect. The transformation is magical and more hallucinogenic than anything suggested by Mr. Surls's works."

Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times

"By the way, some art lovers will be relieved to discover that Damien Hirst's colossal bronze sculpture of a partly dissected pregnant woman has been removed from the outdoor Lever House plaza. It has been replaced by a giant, white Hello Kitty figure by Tom Sachs."

Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times

"A painted bronze that looks as if it were patched together from pieces of foam core, it is not a great improvement, but it is at least not nearly as hideous."

Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times

@Source from: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/24/arts/20090724-SCUL_index.html