Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Civic Center, Foley Square Bounded by Centre, Lafayette and Worth Streets


Mary Sargent © 2009 …….........…….. click to enlarge


This is Triumph of the Human Spirit, a sculture created by Lorenzo Pace dedicated to all the unknown enslaved Africans brought to this country. This is in connection with the African Burial Ground a couple of blocks away. 

I was looking for an art critic's assessment of the sculpture and found this article about skateboarders loving the granite "ramps" spaced around the base. The Times interviewed someone here from San Francisco who said Foley Square is well known in California. It's featured in skaters' magazines. Lorenzo Pace is not amused.

As for art criticism, in a longish article about public art, Michael Kimmelman said that the sculpture is successful public art in that people enjoy the fountain, but that it is "formally weak and unprepossessing." Good public art, bad art.



See map.

2 comments:

Barbara said...

I always thinks it's the Jolly Green Giants can opener set in a funny position.

Mary Sargent said...

You mean you don't think (Jolly Green)giant phallic symbol?