Marcella Veneziale Asst. A&E Editor

Public art in New York is not a novel concept: graffiti artists’ works in the ’70s may have served a different purpose than that of current street artists, with their creations transforming screeching subway cars into mobile art, but both bring vibrancy to harsh city streets. Today, a new vitality in murals and public sculpture has developed, and artists have been gaining more respect and publicity through their innovative projects.

One of the pioneers of street art was Keith Haring, whose colorful sidewalk renderings became synonymous with ’80s pop art. His style became iconic, as it helped to establish public spaces in such urban centers as Chicago and Barcelona. His technique became so ubiquitous that it was even featured on PBS commercials. These designs could be seen as a precursor to current renditions of human form located on the sidewalks of East Houston Street between Avenue B and Suffolk Street.

The East Village and Lower East Side have long been a hotbed for young artists, many of whose works can be found there. Swoon, a local street artist, has been featured in important publications such as The New York Times for her distinctive techniques. She creates elaborate and delicate paper cut-outs of whimsical, hand-painted human subjects and affixes them to building facades. One of her more prominent works is located on Essex Street between Stanton and East Houston Streets.

It is rare, but not impossible, for a street artist’s work to become globally known. Neckface, a former student at the Pratt Institue in Brooklyn, has created numerous public works and become a renowned artist. The New Yorker published a profile of his work and methods this past year in their “Talk of the Town” column. A gallery of his works, which he drew on randomly chosen buildings and urban fixtures, was on display at the same time in London, and critics have compared his designs of toothy monsters and distorted figures to traditional Central American figures.

However, only a small fraction of artists will gain the kind of publicity that Neckface has, and this spurns jealousy among the community. An unknown artist rebelled against Neckface’s popularity by spray-painting the words, “Neckface is ugly!” next to one of the artist’s smaller creations on East 1st Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A.

Public art is also not limited to painted murals. Throughout the city, sculpture is strategically paired with structure. This is most obvious in several works which are located near major office buildings. Perhaps the most recognizable work is a bronze bull sculpture, located near the New York Stock Exchange. This figure has been featured in campaign ads by Merrill Lynch, and symbolizes the strength of the market through its solid form.

Modern sculptures are also dispersed throughout the city. Astor Place is a central focus of artistic vitality because of its location near both Cooper Union and NYU. A modern sculpture of a black cube was installed in 1968 and is balanced on a single point. This is juxtaposed with the traditional façade of Cooper Union’s main academic building. Near an NYU classroom, a modern sculpture of concentric and overlapping circles marks the terminus of Washington Square East.

A similar cube sculpture by Isamu Noguchi, painted red with a hole pierced through it, is located in the plaza before Marine Midland Bank on lower Broadway. The widely familiar French modern style piece, Group of Four Trees, by Jean Debuffet is located in the open-air public space before Chase Manhattan Plaza at William and Pine Streets. While the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan dominate the landscape and create its infamous canyons, Debuffet’s work is the central focus of this outdoor location.

Additionally, an ongoing sculpture series designed to publicize the viewing of art in an urban setting continues today. Fiberglass cow sculptures painted with different motifs were shown in Madison Square Garden and placed throughout the city. A new run has taken root in Grand Central and Penn Stations, with large painted fiberglass apples on display. The city’s attempts to highlight the fine arts will come to a head on Nov. 20, when the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art will move back to its midtown location after being housed in Queens for approximately two years.

The New York subway system also has a distinguishing artistic trademark: mosaic tiling. Since the subway’s earliest days, tiling was used to spell out the names of subway stations before more conventional signs were used. Some subway stations have even installed new tiling in the form of more modern art, particularly in the 28th Street NRW station. In the huge expanse of the Times Square station, more art deco styles have been used to mark its location. The city has also been attempting to preserve original subway mosaics in order to save a piece of its long history.

While the city shows a deep appreciation for the fine arts when housed in museums, it is not always so kind to public art. A beautiful World Trade Center mural was recently painted over by the city on a building façade at East 6th Street, with a garish fuchsia color. Public art is more likely to be viewed as vandalism by officials, which is unfortunate, as viewing it in the urban landscape gives it even greater potency. This type of action by the city is a blemish to the funding that they provide for more conventional art. Mostly, this art is discounted because the artists are often unknown and their works are not formally housed in museums. However, these depictions are often more adept than museum art at capturing the essence of street life, and the diligence and talent of the artists should be respected.