Public Art Fund is an independent, non-profit arts organization founded in 1977 by Doris C. Freedman. The organization presents contemporary art in New York City's public spaces through a series of highly visible artists' projects, new commissions, installations, and exhibitions that are emblematic of the organization's mission and innovative history.

History

Public Art Fund was founded in 1977 by Doris C. Freedman who served as the first Director of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's Department of Cultural Affairs, the President of the

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

, and a tireless supporter of New York City's

Percent for Art The term percent for art refers to a program, often a city ordinance, where a fee, usually some percentage of the project cost, is placed on large scale development projects in order to fund and install public art. The details of such programs var ...

legislation. Public Art Fund was born from the merger of two preexisting organizations, CityWalls, which was founded in 1966, and the Public Arts Council, founded in 197). Working with artists and museums, Public Art Fund works to bring artwork outside of traditional spaces and into the public sphere. Since its inception, Public Art Fund has presented more than 500 artists' exhibitions and projects at sites throughout New York City's five boroughs as varied as streets, plazas, parks, buses, billboards, and even major landmarks including

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

, the

Brooklyn Bridge Park Brooklyn Bridge Park is an park on the Brooklyn side of the East River in New York City. Designed by landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the park is located on a plot of land from Atlantic Avenue in the south, und ...

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the so ...

, and

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

. Susan K. Freedman has served as president since 1986. Nicholas Baume joined Public Art Fund as Director and Chief Curator in 2009 and Jill Kraus has been Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2011.

Public Programs

In addition to presenting works of art, Public Art Fund also hosts additional programs including Public Art Fund Talks. This series encompasses discussions and presentations from today's most influential artist. Another program, In the Public Realm, is an open call which allows emerging artist to conceive and develop innovative ideas for public works. Public Art Fund also releases a semi annual magazine and exhibition catalog which provides its audience with a summary of the organizations activities and achievements.

Highlighted Public Projects in New York City

Public Art Fund has collaborated with many New York City institutions, including the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

for the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

, Outdoors in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

(2002, 2004), and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

for

Francis Alÿs Francis Alÿs (born 1959, Antwerp) is a Belgian-born, Mexico-based artist. His work emerges in the interdisciplinary space of art, architecture, and social practice. In 1986, Alÿs left behind his profession as an architect and relocated to Me ...

’ ''The Modern Procession'' (2002). Early exhibition highlights include

Agnes Denes Agnes Denes (Dénes Ágnes; born 1931 in Budapest) is a Hungarian-born American conceptual artist based in New York. She is known for works in a wide range of media—from poetry and philosophical writings to extremely detailed drawings, sculptu ...

’ ''Wheatfields for Manhattan'' (1982),

David Hammons David Hammons (born July 24, 1943) is an American artist, best known for his works in and around New York City and Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s. Early life David Hammons was born in 1943 in Springfield, Illinois, the youngest of ten ...

’ ''Higher Goals'' (1986), and ''Messages to the Public'' (1982–1990), a series of projects created for

's Spectacolor board that featured work by over 70 artists including

Jenny Holzer Jenny Holzer (born July 29, 1950) is an American neo-conceptual artist, based in Hoosick, New York. The main focus of her work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces and includes large-scale installations, advertising billboards, ...

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

Barbara Kruger Barbara Kruger (born January 26, 1945) is an American conceptual artist and collagist associated with the Pictures Generation. She is most known for her collage style that consists of black-and-white photographs, overlaid with declarative captio ...

Vito Acconci Vito Acconci (, ; January 24, 1940 – April 27, 2017) was an influential American performance, video and installation artist, whose diverse practice eventually included sculpture, architectural design, and landscape design. His foundational p ...

Lynne Tillman Lynne Tillman (born January 1, 1947) is a novelist, short story writer, and cultural critic. She is currently Professor/Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany and teaches at the School of Visual Arts' Art Cri ...

Alfredo Jaar Alfredo Jaar (; ; born 1956) is a Chilean-born artist, architect, photographer and filmmaker who lives in New York City. He is mostly known as an installation artist, often incorporating photography and covering socio-political issues and war—t ...

Richard Prince Richard Prince (born 1949) is an American painter and photographer. In the mid-1970s, Prince made drawings and painterly collages that he has since disowned. His image, ''Untitled (Cowboy)'', a rephotographing of a photograph by Sam Abell and ...

, and the Guerilla Girls. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, the organization commissioned socially conscious pieces such as

Felix Gonzalez-Torres Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

’ ''“Untitled”'' billboard (1989),

Gran Fury Emerging from ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) in 1988, Gran Fury was an AIDS activist artist collective from New York City consisting of 11 members including: Richard Elovich, Avram Finkelstein, Amy Heard, Tom Kalin, John Lindell, Lo ...

's “Women don't get AIDS…they just die from it” poster (1991), Guerilla Girls’ billboard project for Public Art Fund's ''PSA: Public Service Art'' exhibition series (1991), and

's ''Bus'' (1997). In 1997, Public Art Fund organized

Ilya Kabakov Ilya Iosifovich Kabakov (Russian: Илья́ Ио́сифович Кабако́в; born September 30, 1933), is a Russian–American conceptual artist, born in Dnipropetrovsk in what was then the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. He worked ...

's ''Monument to the Lost Glove'', a giant glove made of red plastic resin, which was bolted to the traffic triangle where

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

cross at 23rd Street, and worked with him again in 2000 with ''The Palace of Projects'', which was shown at the

69th Regiment Armory __NOTOC__ The 69th Regiment Armory is a historic National Guard armory building located at 68 Lexington Avenue between East 25th and 26th Streets in the Rose Hill section of Manhattan, New York City. The building began construction in 1904 an ...

. Other New York City projects included Nancy Rubins' ''Big Pleasure Point'' (2006) at

; ''Corner Plot'' (2006) by

Sarah Sze Sarah Sze (; born 1969) is an American artist widely recognized for challenging the boundaries of painting, installation, and architecture. Sze's sculptural practice ranges from slight gestures discovered in hidden spaces to expansive installat ...

at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza; ''Alexander Calder in New York'' at the

City Hall Park City Hall Park is a public park surrounding New York City Hall in the Civic Center of Manhattan. It was the town commons of the nascent city of New York. History 17th century David Provoost was an officer in the Dutch West India Company. Hi ...

(2006) ; and ''Material World'' (2005) at the MetroTech Commons on

Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and ...

, which featured new commissions by Rachel Foullon,

Corin Hewitt Corin Hewitt (born 1971) is an American artist. His work has been shown widely in the U.S. as well as Europe. He has had several U.S. solo museum exhibitions including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and ...

Matthew Day Jackson Matthew Day Jackson (born 1974) is an American artist whose multifaceted practice encompasses sculpture, painting, collage, photography, drawing, video, performance and installation. Since graduating with an MFA from Rutgers University in 2001, ...

, Peter Kreider, and Mamiko Otsubo. Public Art Fund moved into a new territory when it announced it would present 2001

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

winner

Martin Creed Martin Creed (born 21 October 1968) is a British artist, composer and performer. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for exhibitions during the preceding year, with the jury praising his audacity for exhibiting a single installation, '' Work No. 2 ...

's performance art piece, ''Variety Show,'' on March 30, 2007 at the

Abrons Arts Center The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founde ...

on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

of Manhattan. Recent exhibition highlights include

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson ( is, Ólafur Elíasson; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's ...

's '' The New York City Waterfalls'' (2008), which created man-made waterfalls at four sites on New York City's waterfront;

Rob Pruitt Rob Pruitt (born 1963/1964) is an American post-conceptual artist. Working primarily in painting, installation, and sculpture, he does not have a single style or medium. He considers his work to be intensely personal and biographical. Pruitt has ...

's ''The Andy Monument'', a tribute to

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

(2011),

Tatzu Nishi is a Japanese site specific installation artist. Nishi is known for his art interventions, which often transform historical monuments by surrounding a statue or a small element of a building with domestic space. In some cases the sculptures al ...

's ''

Discovering Columbus ''Discovering Columbus'' is an installation artwork created by the Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi, which was exhibited to the public from 20 September to 18 November 2012. The work consisted of a temporary penthouse apartment surrounding Gaetano ...

'' (2012), which reimagined the 13-foot-tall statue of Columbus standing in a fully furnished, modern living room; and

Jeppe Hein Jeppe Hein (born 1974, Copenhagen, Denmark) is an artist based in Berlin and Copenhagen.Brooklyn Bridge Park Brooklyn Bridge Park is an park on the Brooklyn side of the East River in New York City. Designed by landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the park is located on a plot of land from Atlantic Avenue in the south, und ...

. In In 2017, Public Art Fund is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the citywide group exhibition ''Commercial Break'',

Liz Glynn Liz Glynn (born 1981) is an American artist. She is originally from Boston and now works out of Los Angeles. Much of her work is sculptural and installation-based, incorporating found objects and materials. Her work deals with institutional cri ...

's ''Open House'' at Doris C. Freedman Plaza,

Anish Kapoor Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor (born 12 March 1954) is a British-Indian sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the UK ...

's ''Descension''at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...

's ''Good Fences Make Good Neighbors''.

References

External links

* {{Official, https://www.publicartfund.org
Public Art Fund projects

History

Public Programs

Highlighted Public Projects in New York City

See also

References

External links

Further reading