Client: Brooklyn Greenway Initiative

Overview

Activate the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway with a public work of art that symbolized the mission and bring awareness for future development. The work was a 10' tall sculpture of Pablo Picasso made of fiberglass, aluminum, wood, and exterior acrylic paint.

Goals

The goals were to present a work which could not only receive wide recognition and popularity but represent the Brooklyn Greenway's mission to care and develop the waterfront in an environmentally conscious way. The work was placed and presented with a site specific landscaped setting that coordinated with its meaning and mission.

Process

Creating the 10' sculpture primarily consisted of collaboration between the artist (Elliott Arkin), fabrication director (Glasson Sculpture Works), fabricators (Neo-Set Design and KC fabrication). Once created, the artist worked with BGI to develop the site and install the work

Additional Information

The Spanish Gardener is Elliott Arkin's largest work to date and is a continuation in his series depicting historical figures as gardening lawn gnomes. The sculptures were the subject of A Peaceable Kingdom, a recent major solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC) roof-top garden in Nice, France.