Will Ryman’s Giant Bird Sculpture Gets Nailed on Fifth Avenue

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Will Ryman’s 12-feet-tall sculpture “Bird” (2012, above), which made its debut last year at Paul Kasmin Gallery — where Ryman currently has another very large sculpture on view — and depicts a large feathered creature made up of thousands of fabricated and over-sized nails, has landed in Flatiron Plaza. The work’s public installation, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway next to Madison Square Park and in the shadow of the Flatiron Building, was proving a popular subject for tourists when ARTINFO flew by this morning.

The sculpture, which is being presented by the Urban Art Program of the New York City Department of Transportation and the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership, officially went on view Monday, and will only be up through April 21, when it takes off for another perch. Though loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven,” we suspect that the five-ton sculpture will prove to be a hit with the city’s pigeons. Ryman’s new sculpture “America” (2013) at Paul Kasmin’s 27th Street space — on view through Saturday — is a scale replica of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood cabin made of golden materials. This short video offers a glimpse into its laborious assembly.

Ryman isn’t the only Kasmin stable artist with a major public artwork this season: Kenny Scharf’s “Squirtz” sculpture is currently on view outside the Standard, High Line, and will be moved to the gallery when the artist’s upcoming exhibition opens there on April 4.

— Benjamin Sutton

(Photos by the author.)

Tags: Benjamin Sutton, News, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Public Art, Will Ryman

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Animals, Big Sculptors, Bronze Art, bronze art sculpture, Bronze Statue, custom bronze animal statue, Making Bronze Sculptures, public bronze sculpture, Statue Sculpture

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