G2V | 2012 | oxidized and high chromium stainless steel | 10.5 x 8 x 4 feet | click > enlarge

The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and Cynthia-Reeves Projects are pleased to announce that G2V, a new sculpture by the artist Jonathan Prince will be on view at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, at Second Avenue and East 47th Street in Manhattan. A public reception with the artist will be held at the site on Wednesday, 10 October 10 from 6 > 7p.



Prince’s new work continues to explore the principal theme of the “interrupted” iconographic form from his Torn Steel series. In G2V, the stainless steel “interruption” in the treated steel is a smooth undulating surface — a beautiful foil to the lush, sandstone-like patina of the oxidized steel. This installation coincides with a public art exhibition of two of his additional works, Southern Remnant and Bore Block, currently on view at the Christie’s Sculpture Garden at 535 Madison Avenue. Prince’s Vestigial Block, a recent acquisition by the new Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, will be permanently installed in advance of the museum’s opening celebration, and a retrospective of the artist’s black granite sculptures and functional art will be on view at ABC Stone in Brooklyn next month.

For G2V Prince uses his chosen material, steel, in completely new and innovative ways. The artist explains:

I believe that my steel work appears very different than other steel sculptures that are out in the world primarily because the forms I am creating are an extension of my earlier stone carvings. Works in steel tend to be rectilinear in nature whereas stone sculptures (and my steel work) tend towards the curvilinear and/or compound curve. Equipment to form this kind of steel exists in industry but, in forms that are used commercially like curved pipe. In order to create the sculptural forms that I design we often have to engineer the equipment and invent the techniques used for their fabrication. This element of invention is central to my sculpture practice and most importantly to my joy of creation.

Regarding Prince’s move toward public art scaled work over the past year, the artist observes:

For me, the viewer has to physically move through space for the totality of the sculpture to be taken in. I refer to this as temporal exploration. I believe this invites an interact with the object – as new information is revealed from different viewing angles.

The City of New York’s Department of Parks & Recreation’s Art in the Parks program has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, collaborations with arts organizations and artists have produced hundreds of public art projects in New York City parks. Please see [ parks art ] New York real estate developer, Craig Nassi is generously serving as a co-sponsor of this project.