Posts by Vincenzo Rutigliano

Debuting at this years Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be a 48-foot tall balloon titled Figure with Heart by the late artist Keith Haring. The balloon is based on Haring's ink on paper drawing, Untitled (Figure with Heart), 1987 and will be part of the Macy's Parade's Blue Sky Gallery series, which aims to "inject contemporary art into a pop culture phenomenon". (

 In looking around for a keepsake to remind me of this historic election for President of the United States, I came across a pin of the Obama Progress poster. I was surprised to learn that the poster was done by a street artist named Shepard Fairey. It is amazing to see how graffiti artists have come up in the art world, from Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring to

During the weekend of June 7th, the National Park Service literally moved the home of Alexander Hamilton, known as the Hamilton Grange National Memorial, two blocks over to the hillside corner of St. Nicholas Park. 

The federal style country home built by the architect, John McComb Jr., was completed in 1802 and named "The Grange" after the Hamilton 

Ever wish you could see what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean…well now you can go down to the Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn Bridge and take a peek at what is going on in London. 

The Telectroscope by the artist Paul St George, a brass and wood telescope, 37 feet long by 11 feet tall…will visually connect New Yorkers to people in London, where an identical scope will sit on the banks of the Thames in the shadow of Tower Bridge. 

Or should I say Memorial Day. In this case have a good Memorial Day Weekend.

Memorial Day, also known as Decoration Day, is an official U.S. holiday, celebrated on the last Monday in the month of May, to honor the men and women that have died in military service. “It originated during the American Civil War (1861–64) when citizens placed flowers on the graves of those who had been killed in battle.” Encyclopædia Britannica Article 

If you like Japanese anime and manga you should see the new © Murakami exhibition (April 5-July 13, 2008) at the Brooklyn Museum. This is the first major retrospective on the works of Japanese artist/designer Takashi Murakami, who is known as the Warhol of Japan. It focuses on his work from 1991-2000, “when the artist began exploring his own reality through an investigation of branding and identity." From "© MURAKAMI: Brooklyn Museum Photo Gallery”

The colors are vibrant 

Last night, while I was looking for a place to eat with my family in the Greenwich Village, I came across several light posts that were beautifully covered with tiles and glass. This sparked my interest once again about the different types of Street Art around the City.

At the Library today, I came across a really good article in The New York Times titled “To the Trained Eye, Museum Pieces Lurk Everywhere,” by Seth Kugel, March 9, 2008.  

Billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud plans to build the world's tallest building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It will be a mile tall skyscraper, “taller than four Empire State Buildings stacked upon each other.” From “Billionaire Plans To Start Mile-High Building Club” (Forbes.com, 02.25.08)

Currently in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Dubai tower is being constructed. Though still in 

Recently the well known dance club Webster Hall (building, not the club) was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Built in 1886 by architect Charles Rentz, Webster Hall became one of the country’s first modern nightclubs. According the Webster Hall website “It was where the original bohemians, like Emma Goldman, Marcel DuChamp and Margaret Sangor, created unique costume balls to 

It is cold outside today in New York City, but not quite as cold as in Ohio, where even the trees appear to be longing for warmth. In the Associated Press there is an article titled “Knitters Dress up Trees for Public Art,” by James Hannah, which discusses the art of the “knitknot tree" project on Xenia Avenue in Yellow Springs, Ohio, “known for its offbeat art”.

“Wrapped around the 

In passing by Rockefeller Center one would think it was still Christmas time. Did they forget to take down the tree? or Maybe their keeping it up year round? Hoping people would feel joyful all year long… Actually standing in front of Rockefeller Center behind the statue of Prometheus is the “Electric Fountain”. A fountain of lights 35 feet tall and 

A new headquarters for The New York Times is being built on 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st Street. It is a 52 story building designed by the architect Renzo Piano. To document the construction of the tower is photographer Annie Leibovitz. The art project is titled “Building the Times: Photographs by Annie Leibovitz”.

I came across an animated version of the Bayeux Tapestry in YouTube. The tapestry, an embroidery on wool cloth, “is 231 feet long and 19.5 inches wide, and contains more than 70 scenes representing the events that led up to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.” It depicts the last successful invasion of Britain by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and the defeat of King Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon King (in the video: he is the 

I came across an interesting article in the Art Newspaper titled “Statues in Britain are revolting—and so are we: The British art world has had enough of “Frankenstein monster memorials”.” (2.7.08, issue 188) It discusses the backlash or “fightback against “bad” public sculpture in the UK” toward the “unprecedented number of tasteless statues that have appeared across the country.” The editor of The Burlington 

Walking into the Modern Art wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I came across what I thought was a shark tank. For a second I had to step back thinking I entered the American Museum of Natural History by mistake.

But what I encountered was “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” by English artist Damien Hirst. A tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde encased in a glass cabinet.

“Hirst created work that brought together 

Mayor Bloomberg and the Public Art Fund have announced that Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has been commissioned to build four man-made Waterfalls in the East River, at the southern tip of Manhattan (one near the Brooklyn Bridge).

The artist has “designed what will likely be the city's biggest public art project since Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "The Gates". The installation will consist of a series of freestanding 

On January 24, 1984 Apple Inc. introduced us to the Macintosh.

During a break in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII (January 22, 1984) a television commercial by Apple was aired to promote the Macintosh personal computer. The ad showed an unnamed heroine (played by Anya Major) wearing red shorts, red running shoes, and a white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apple’s Macintosh computer, running through an

In this past hectic season of Christmas shopping and looking for something different to buy, I came across a sight titled “New York City Garbage”. Yep,  one can buy garbage, but not just any, it's “New York City Garbage”, by Justin Gignac.

The artist has set up a simple and straightforward website that provides just enough information to peak ones interest. There’s a PDF Press Kit (lower left hand corner) that provides information 

According to an AM New York article “Guerilla artists don’t want bench back“, an 8-foot-tall bench mysteriously appeared on Houston Street about two weeks ago. It goes on to say, “All this work, once it’s installed, it’s kind of just left to the fates,” said Tod Seelie, who collaborated with street artist Brad Downey on the bench and photographed its stealth installation in the middle of the night. “The idea is to see how time changes it.”

It would