Alexandre Arrechea's 'No Limits' takes over Park Avenue
Cuban artist and Los Carpinteros alumnus Alexandre Arrechea's latest body of work spins Manhattan landmarks on their heads. Playfully reinterprating iconic buildings like the Chrysler Building, the US Courthouse and the Empire State Building, his series of 10 bending and flexing sculptures are currently being positioned across a 20-block stretch of manicured Park Avenue.
Each mammoth sculpture of the 'No Limits' installation - presented by Magnan Metz Gallery, in partnership with the city's Department of Parks and Recreation and the Fund for the Park Avenue Sculpture Committee - is utterly loyal in its verisimilitude, and brims over with irony. Despite being constructed form 18,000 lbs of stainless steel, they loop and coil and curve to reflect social and political shifts of today's world.
'I wanted to create a link between the sculptures and an outside event,' says Arrechea. 'They go beyond the realm of architecture and reflect the constant change that we experience in our surroundings.'
Consequently, his version of Warren and Wetmore's the Helmsley Building takes the form of a snake eating it's own tail. 'It's a play on the [Ouboros] myth. It's like a city that devours itself. That has always been my first vision of New York,' the artist explains.
The concept for 'No Limits' revisits an idea Arrechea initially explored in 2009's 'A Room for All'. Exhibited during the Havana Biennale, the work comprised a small house that expanded and contracted according to the rise and fall of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
This week's installation (the last sculpture will be installed on 28 February) marks the culmination of an almost two-year process, from the initial ink drawings, watercolour paintings and detailed maquettes, to Autocad renderings and the actual constructions from steel.
Arrechea's vast sculptures are sure to add a jolt of life to the Upper East Side. The public aspect of the project has not escaped him either - visitors will be able to rotate and spin some of the 20 foot high pieces to fully experience the artist's vision.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Fernando Jorge’s fluid diamond earrings show his curve appeal
Discover Brazilian jewellery designer Fernando Jorge's snake-like silhouettes and graphic shapes
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Abreham Brioschi debuts Ethiopia-inspired rugs for Nodus
Abreham Brioschi teams up with luxury rug experts Nodus to translate visions from his heritage into a tactile reality
By Ifeoluwa Adedeji Published
-
Five compact DAB radios that combine broadcast content with visual brio
The latest DAB radios – countertop and bedside broadcast companions – for those who like their devices to be standalone and visually simple
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The Met’s ‘The Real Thing: Unpacking Product Photography’ dissects the avant-garde in early advertising
A new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explores the role of product photography and advertising in shaping the visual language of modernism
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Tony Notarberardino’s Chelsea Hotel Portraits preserve a slice of bygone New York life
‘Tony Notarberardino: Chelsea Hotel Portraits, 1994-2010’, on show at New York’s ACA Galleries, is the photographer’s ode to the storied hotel he calls home and its eclectic clientele
By Hannah Silver Published
-
‘LA Gun Club’: artist Jane Hilton on who’s shooting who
‘LA Gun Club’, an exhibition by Jane Hilton at New York’s Palo Gallery, explores American gun culture through a study of targets and shooters
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema
‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
By Anne Soward Published
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in America
BLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
By Timothy Anscombe-Bell Published
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrative
In Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzz
Our Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
By Renée Reizman Published
-
New York artist Christopher Astley showcases an alternative natural world
At Martos Gallery in New York, Christopher Astley’s paintings evoke an alternative natural world and the chaos of warfare (until 16 March 2024)
By Tianna Williams Published