Jorge Palacios’s “Link” stands in the shadow of the Flatiron Building (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Flatiron Plaza North
Intersection of Broadway, Fifth Ave., and 23rd St.
Through November 6, free
www.noguchi.org
link slideshow
“Jorge Palacios at the Noguchi Museum” continues through January 20 at the Long Island City institution, the museum that opened in 1985 by sculptor Isamu Noguchi, who was born in Los Angeles, raised in Japan, and lived and worked in New York for much of his career. In conjunction with the exhibition, which features nine pieces by Spanish sculptor Jorge Palacios that were inspired by Noguchi’s experimental style, Palacios’s monumental “Link” is on view through November 6 on Flatiron Plaza North. The smooth sculpture, a tribute to Noguchi’s work in public spaces that involved scale and civic engagement — for example, “Red Cube” in the Financial District — stands thirteen feet high and ten feet wide, consisting of narrow, rectangular pieces of Accoya wood that effortlessly wrap around to form an abstract shape that resembles an alien figure, a human rear end, or even a Humpty Dumpy-like character, with a small hole in the bottom. A collaboration between the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program, the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership Business Improvement District, and the Noguchi Museum, “Link” is fun distraction in a crowded area, whether seen up close or from afar, the Flatiron Building rising behind it.