ANIMAL » The High Line

John Baldessari’s $100,000 ‘Bill Board’ at the High Line

Marina Galperina — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:04:46 +0000

Since David Byrne shoved a moaning planet under the High Line, we’ve been waiting for another festive spruce-up and you can’t really get more festive than a giant $100,000 dollar bill, thanks to the never-boring art stalwart John Baldessari. Excellent. Also, nauseating.

The greenish Woodrow Wilson peeks above 18th Street from a 25-foot-by-75-foot billboard. This here “ad” is a replica of a real, sad currency. 42,000 were printed during the Great Depression. Today, had this one not been extreme novelty sized, it would be worth $1,635,664.18. Fun fact. Na-na na-na na-na.

Baldessari has dubbed this piece The First $100,000 I Ever Made (2011), though it’s unclear who this “I” person is, since this one “perfect” Baldessari painting is auctioned at 1,500,000 – 2,000,000 USD, for example.

The High Line’s Section Three: Endangered Wild Lands?

Marina Galperina — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:15:08 +0000

With the High Line park offering tours of its yet to be developed Section Three, the visitors would like to keep this section natural, thank you very much. Oh, the park is great, the art is awesome and the walk is nifty, but wouldn’t it be nice to keep some wild city intact?

Like in the good olde days when roamed only by urban adventurers, Section Three is still looking like post-Apocalyptic fantasy fodder, but for how long? With the development looming, one visitor suggested, “It would be nice if they kept it in this natural state, maybe just put in a path here but kept it in a state of preserved decay… What they have further down is nice, but they could make this like an urban Appalachian Trail.”

Now that Philly is about to eradicate their own surreal patch of lusciously green urban decay into a concrete paved park, is every surreal city patch in the country in danger of becoming sleek, snazzy and paved with concrete? (Photo: ANIMALNewYork)

David Byrne Squeezes the Whole World Under the High Line

Marina Galperina — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:45:25 +0000

Artist and bike hero David Byrne has wedged a giant, inflatable globe into the Pace Gallery-owned lot at 508 West 25th Street, right under the High Line. It’s not bloated. It’s confined! The Tight Spot installation also makes “filtered and processed” moans with the Talking Heads frontman “trying to make [his] voice sound like a machine, or like wind buffeting a big sail.” Oh, you quirky siren. Let’s go hug the big ball now!

Fun fact for fellow Byrne enthusiasts: The artist lives in one of those High Line-side condos, but “high enough no one can see in” — not at peep show level. Oops. That came out kind of creepy. (Photo: Mark Barry/Flickr)

The High Line Expanding With Intimacy and… Graffiti?

Marina Galperina — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:33:29 +0000

Notice the un-buffed graffiti in this Photoshop fantasy of the new section of the elevated tracks-turned-High Line park, coming this Spring. Tags are poking out of this weird green stuff (t.. t.. trees?) making imaginary New Yorkers all giddy. Perhaps the graffiti is going to be intentionally left alone, so the park goers cutting through blocks of Manhattan can get a real eyeful of NYC, along with views of the Hudson River and, for a “more intimate feel,” into the windows of residential buildings.

Everyone Wants to Get High-Line-Style Parks

Marina Galperina — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:45:14 +0000

Since NYC turned its abandoned elevated rails from an eyesore to an art park, many major cities want similar action. Expect the High Line imitations to pop up in Detroit, Chicago, Jersey City, Philly, Rotterdam, Singapore and Hong Kong. Just don’t expect the same convenient art gallery row-adjacent locations or hotel peep shows.

The High Line’s Second Art Installation Sounds A Little More Exciting, Ding

Marina Galperina — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:00:08 +0000

Even though it had a nifty concept, the 2009 Spencer Finch’s High Line commission resulted in a bunch of colorful window panes, yawn.

Up in June: Stephen Vitiello‘s A Bell For Every Minute, a multi-channel sound installation with bells recorded all over NYC—from the New York Stock Exchange bell, to the Dreamland bell recently surfaced from the waters of Coney Island, to diner bells and bike bells – ringing in the High Line tunnel between West 13th and West 14th Streets. Sounds noisy!

Standard Hotel Solicits Staff Strippers

Will Sherman — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:12:32 +0000

The Standard doesn’t just encourage guests to bare it all in front of the hotel’s floor to ceiling windows overlooking the High Line. Staff members are also encouraged to join in the publicity stunt, “stripping down and posing provocatively” for the crowds and cameras. |NYP|

Post Discovers High Line Peep Show

Will Sherman — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:09:21 +0000

Months after blogs were buzzing about exhibitionists at the Standard Hotel, the Post files an “exclusive” report on the nude window displays. Cautioning parents, the tabloid reiterates what a good vantage point the newly opened High Line park makes for watching hotel guests get undressed and having sex. However, the Standard has backed off their encouragement of public affection, deleting a blog post asking “amateur pornographers” to share their “most erotic photos shot at The Standard, New York,” where “floor to ceiling glass windows … offer direct views to your most intimate moments.”

High Line Haters Fail Miserably

Will Sherman — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:15:54 +0000

While the High Line park is by no means perfect, the criticisms collected by Oobject are perhaps the weakest and most irrelevant we’ve ever heard. Among their complaints: the new park isn’t lit up with gaudy lights, there are no plants in an area that doesn’t see sunlight, it’s longer than it is wide, and the far-fetched claim that people won’t use it. Skimming the irrational arguments, it becomes pretty apparent that whoever’s behind them hasn’t actually seen the park in person, in part because of repeated speculation that the non-existent pedestrian areas underneath the trestle will harbor crime, danger and other scary things. Whoever came up with them should have their internet ranting privileges revoked.

Welcome To the Hell Line!

Bucky Turco — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:43:09 +0000

If you haven’t seen the High Line yet, but are still determined to go, the weekends might not be the best time to swing by, Sunday afternoons at around 2:30PM in particular. This was the scene yesterday at the Gansevoort entrance, with long lines wrapping around the corner. The park was at fireproof capacity, forcing staff to issue wristbands and aggressively police the amount of people entering, effectively transforming the High Line from a “Midair Oasis” into an elevated human zoo.