In addition to his stegosaurus of a World Trade Center Transportation Hub, due to open later this year, neofuturist architect/sculptor/painter Santiago Calatrava will drop seven spiky sculptures along the Park Avenue meridian—three red, two black, and two silver—amongst the usual hedges of decorative kale. Some points for plotting: the tallest sculpture will reach 18 feet, the sculptures will be on view from June through November, and will be bounded by streets East 52nd to East 57th streets.
Dale Lanzone successfully presented the idea to Community Board 5 last night on behalf of Marlborough Gallery, which represents Calatrava, though Parks and Public Spaces chair Clayton Smith warned that the district will probably not be too keen on new public art after the Teresita Fernandez’s controversially sunlight-blocking glass disc, Fata Morgana, was recently installed in Madison Square Park. A Curbed article notes that the same people on the Community Board 5 are also dealing with outrage over the shadow-casting supertowers on 57th Street, though fortunately it doesn’t seem as though Calatrava’s sculptures have the same power to stand between Manhattanites and their vitamin D absorption.