Battery Park City Parks Conservancy

The Real World Artist:Tom Otterness Location:Rockefeller Park Description:Since its installation in 1992, Tom Otterness's collection of bronze sculptures has become one of New York's most popular public art pieces. At first glance, a delightful mix of highly stylized human and animal characters populating a fairy-tale world, the artist's commentary on the financial world surfaces upon closer inspection.
Pavilion Artist:Demetri Porphyrios Location:Rockefeller Park Description:Porphyrios's pavilion is both structure and sculpture: a place to take shelter from sun or rain, and a beautiful work of art.
Pylons Artist:Martin Puryear Location:The Esplanade, just north of North Cove Description:Two tall stainless steel columns, one of them airy and open, made of wire mesh; the other solid and angular, create a symbolic portal at the river's edge. The piece is especially striking at night, when it is illuminated.
World Financial Center Plaza Artist:Siah Armajani, M. Paul Friedberg, Scott Burton Location:WFC Plaza Description:A seamless blend of form and function, WFC Plaza contains sculptural seating surfaces and tables as well as a whimsical and intriguing selection of quotes from Walt Whitman and Frank O'Hara inscribed in bronze lettering on the steel railing overlocking the river, and the decorative fence around the lawn.
The Upper Room Artist:Ned Smyth Location:The Esplanade, at Albany Street Description:Like a cross between a giant chess set and a ancient archeological site. The Upper Room is an assemblage of columns and collonades creating spaces that seem to have come from another world. Both playful and profound, the sculpture exerts a powerful appeal.
Rector Gate Artist:R. M. Fischer Location:The Esplanade, at Rector Place Description:This steel, bronze and granit archway rises some 50' above the ground, forming a fanciful 1950's science- fiction inspired portal linking Battery Park City to the larger city beyond.
Sitting/Stance Artist:Richard Artschwager Location:The Esplanade, at West Thames Street Description:Subtle yet provocative, Artschwager's granite, steel, and wood installation is designed to make us think more deliberately about our surroundings. Composed of stylized renderings of familiar objects, Sitting/Stance is equal parts play and polemic.
South Cove Artist:Mary Miss, Stanton Eckstut, Susan Child Location:The Esplanade, at South Cove Description:South Cove is a place based artwork, the result of a collaboration between an artist (Mary Miss), a landscape architect (Susan Child) and an architect (Stan Eckstut). The piece incorporates natural materials, plantings, constructed elements, and the waterand sky themselves to create a beautiful and very moving environment.
Ape & Cat (At the Dance) Artist:Jim Dine Location:Wagner Park Description:Dine's large scale bronze sculptures depicts an other-worldly couple- the ape and the cat- dancing cheek to cheek. What is striking about the piece is that despite their obvious lack of human characteristics, the ape and the cat seem almost human, and thus prompt us to reflect on ourselves.
Eyes Artist:Louise Bourgeois Location:Wagner Park Description:Known for her sculptures of oversized body parts, Louise Bourgeois' two large polished spheres watch over the Hudson River from the perimeter of the lawn.
Resonating Bodies Artist:Tomy Cragg Location:Wagner Park Description:Tomy Cragg's Resonating Bodies are two enotmous bronze sculptures - one five feet tall and fifteen feet long, the other fifteen feet tall and five feet wide - in the form of musical instruments, a tuba and a lute. Gargantuan yet still delicate and realistic, the pieces invite us to touch and play them.
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