bronze with white patina

October 2003 - February 5, 2004

at Doris C. Freedman Plaza
(Fifth Avenue and 60th Street)

Street Crossing, a sculpture George Segal made in 1992, shows a scattering of figures in the act of moving through a fictional crossroads. Caught in an ambiguous psychological terrain, the seven figures seem blind to one another and to their surroundings. Segal had a particular ability to elevate mundane day-to-day activities into a lyrical or elegiac display, depicting his subjects with their guard down and in a naturalistic stance. In the early 1960s, he became known for making works in plaster, which he created by covering his subjects entirely in dry plaster bandages. He began working in bronze in the 1970s, and his works in this medium, including Street Crossing, retain the rough-hewn texture of his familiar plaster cast technique.

In addition to this temporary presentation of Street Crossing, there are two sculptures by George Segal in New York's public spaces, both of which are on permanent view: Gay Liberation (1980) at Sheridan Square and The Commuters, Next Departure (1981) at Port Authority Terminal.

Artist Bio
George Segal was born in 1924 in New York City. He grew up and lived in New Jersey, where he and his wife, Helen, owned a farm that became an outpost of the New York art world, serving as the set of a Robert Frank film and as the site of the first Fluxus Happening. In 1961, Segal began working with live models -- including himself -- to create the plaster-cast figurative sculptures for which he became best known. In 1962, he was included in the seminal exhibition, "New Realism," at the Sidney Janis in 1962. He had retrospectives at the Walker Center for the Arts, Minneapolis (1978) and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1997), and exhibited widely around the world. In 1991, he created Depression Breadline at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C, and in 1999, he received the prestigious National Medal of the Arts.

Sponsorship
Street Crossing is in the collection of The George and Helen Segal Foundation. This presentation of Street Crossing is in collaboration with Carroll Janis Inc., with special thanks to Mitchell-Innes & Nash.

This exhibition is made possible through the cooperation of the City of New York / Parks & Recreation.

Location
Doris C. Freedman Plaza is located at the Southeast Entrance to Central Park on Fifth Avenue and 60th Street.
Nearest Subway: N R to Fifth Avenue stop or 4,5,6 to 59th Street stop.