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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

'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 va ...

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 1971. 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 Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

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

, 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, un ...

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, ...

, 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 ...

. Susan K. Freedman has served as president since 1986. Nicholas Baume joined Public Art Fund as Director and Chief Curator in 2009, and Elizabeth Fearon Pepperman was elected chair of the Board of Directors in 2020.

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 a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

for the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

, Outdoors in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

(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 (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

for Francis Alÿs’ ''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, sculpt ...

’ '' Wheatfields for Manhattan'' (1982), David Hammons’ ''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. Her work focuses on the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces and includes large-scale installations, advertising billboards, projectio ...

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

, Barbara Kruger,

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

, Lynne Tillman, Alfredo Jaar,

Richard Prince Richard Prince (born August 6, 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 photographic reproduction of a photograph ...

, and the Guerilla Girls. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, the organization commissioned socially conscious pieces such as Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ ''“Untitled”'' billboard (1989), Gran Fury'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 Barbara Kruger's ''Bus'' (1997). In 1997, Public Art Fund organized Ilya Kabakov'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 thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

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

69th Regiment Armory The 69th Regiment Armory (also known as the 165th Infantry Armory and the Lexington Avenue Armory) is a historic armory for the U.S. Army National Guard at 68 Lexington Avenue, between East 25th and 26th Streets, in the Rose Hill neighborho ...

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

; ''Corner Plot'' (2006) by Sarah Sze 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 came to New Netherland as early as 1638, probab ...

(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, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...

, which featured new commissions by Rachel Foullon, Corin Hewitt, Matthew Day Jackson, 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'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 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founded under the ...

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. Historically, it w ...

of Manhattan. Recent exhibition highlights include

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson (; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scaled installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's experience. In 1995, ...

's '' The New York City Waterfalls'' (2008), which created man-made waterfalls at four sites on New York City's waterfront; Rob Pruitt's ''The Andy Monument'', a tribute to

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

at Union Square (2011), Tatzu Nishi's '' Discovering Columbus'' (2012), which reimagined the 13-foot-tall statue of Columbus standing in a fully furnished, modern living room; and Jeppe Hein's ''Please Touch the Art'' (2015) at

. In 2017, Public Art Fund celebrated its 40th anniversary with the citywide group exhibition ''Commercial Break'', Liz Glynn's ''Open House'' at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Anish Kapoor's ''Descension'' at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; 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 ...

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

References

External links

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Public Art Fund projects

History

Public Programs

Highlighted Public Projects in New York City

See also

References

External links

Further reading