Don’t forget to see Miquel Barceló’s “Gran Elefandret” before it leaves Union Square on May 20 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Union Square Triangle
Median, Park Ave. at 15th St.
Through May 29
www.marlboroughgallery.com
gran elefandret slideshow
Union Square Park can be a bit of a crazy circus at times, filled with musicians, street performers, activists, tourists, poets, vendors, and, well, its fare share of downright crazy people. Mallorca-born artist Miquel Barceló pays tribute to the park’s unpredictability with the playful bronze statue “Gran Elefandret.” The monumental sculpture features an enormous elephant balancing on its trunk, rising up more than twenty-five feet on the Union Square Triangle between the park and the nearby Daryl Roth Theatre, where a circus of a different kind, Fuerza Bruta, has been attracting visitors for several years now. The elephant’s ears droop toward the ground as its legs spread apart toward the heavens; be sure to walk all the way around it to get its full wrinkly grandeur as the background changes from tall buildings to green trees to clear blue sky. Although the 2008 work was not created for this specific location, it wonderfully captures the hectic but fun aspect of the historic Union Square neighborhood, especially with cars, taxis, and buses zooming by. Part of the Union Square Art in the Park program, “Gran Elefandret” will keep up its improbable balancing act through May 29.