Giant Park Ave Architectural Sculptures: Cool Art from Hot Metal in NYC

A couple of days ago I blogged about the completion and installation of the Alexandre Arrechea ‘No Limits’ series of sculptures that were fabricated by my friend Josh Young of Serett Metal in Brooklyn. It was a genuinely huge job that took Josh and his team over two months to build.

These enormous sculptures were inspired by some of Manhattans most iconic architecture: the Chrysler Building, Citicorp Center, Empire State Building, Flatiron building, Helmsley Building, MetLife Building, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, Seagram Building, Sherry Netherland, and the US Courthouse. I photographed the completion and installation of these stunning sculptures over the last few days of that two month period and was exhausted by the end of it as two of those days were overnighters that kept me photographing for longer than twelve hours each night. I ended up with close to 2,000 images, most of which came out exceedingly well and made the editing process extremely difficult. Some of the results of that editing were posted in the previous blog and others are in this gallery on my website.

I have no idea how Josh managed to keep it together as he didn’t sleep for the last five days of construction. He’d pass out in his car for an hour or so and then somebody would come and wake him up with a problem to fix. It was a herculean effort and one that was well rewarded by a great sense of satisfaction (as well as another step closer to climbing out of the black hole created by the complete flooding of his workshop during Hurricane Sandy) when the final sculpture was dropped into place.

Last weekend I went for a ride up Park Avenue and photographed the completed sculptures in situ between 54th and 67th streets. These images are the result of that bicycle ride. If you are in NYC anytime before June 9th then I’d suggest you make your way along Park Avenue and admire the genius of Alexandre Arrechea for developing the concept and Josh Young for executing the vision. With the ten giant sculptures of the ‘No Limits’ installation along Park Avenue, both of these remarkable individuals stand head and shoulders above every other artist in NYC this summer.

Citigroup Sculpture, Park Ave and 54th St © Andrzej Liguz/moreimages.net. Not to be used without permission

Seagram Sculpture, Park Ave and 55th St © Andrzej Liguz/moreimages.net. Not to be used without permission

Metropolitan Life Tower Sculpture, Park Ave and 57th St © Andrzej Liguz/moreimages.net. Not to be used without permission

Sherry Netherland Sculpture, Park Ave and 59th St © Andrzej Liguz/moreimages.net. Not to be used without permission

US Courthouse Sculpture, Park Ave and 60th St © Andrzej Liguz/moreimages.net. Not to be used without permission

Flatiron Sculpture, Park Ave and 61st St © Andrzej Liguz/moreimages.net. Not to be used without permission

Empire State Sculpture, Park Ave and 64th St © Andrzej Liguz/moreimages.net. Not to be used without permission

Helmsley Sculpture, Park Ave and 65th St © Andrzej Liguz/moreimages.net. Not to be used without permission

I don’t think it’s possible to really tell just from looking at the picture in this size, but having seen it blown up to 100%, I feel duty bound to point out the woman is pushing a pram with a lap dog in it.

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