Public Art & Free Pop-ups
Lots of free art tO explore - some of it touchable & climbable – at NYC's site-specific art installations in parks, galleries and stores. Also see our kid-friendly museum guide and ideas for making art at home.
Sign up for our email list and follow our instagram to keep up with the latest family-friendly adventures.
SEAPORT/FIDI
Giant steel and acrylic dandelion flowers by artist Abram Santa Cruz and LA-based art collective Liquid PXL evoke an endless display of colorful fireworks. The 10 elegant 28-foot structures are pretty flowers in the daytime, then LED animations to work their magic when the sun goes down. Perfect for Lunar New Year.
Find some light this dark winter at two Downtown Alliance-sponsored public art projects on loan from Amsterdam’s Light Art Collection is at the public plaza adjacent to 85 Broad.
The sculpture “C/C”, designed by Singapore-based artist Angela Chong, doubles as a bench for seating, casting complex shadows by day and transforming into…
Cheerful sculptures by Scott Gerber, artist and founder of Tube Dude have been moved to the edge of the East River, framing dramatic views. The Heart is a perfect Valentine photo-op, accompanied by the giant Peace Sign and Smiley Face.
Nearby, climb on the geometric, rainbow colored Ziggy by Hou De Sousa and see…
DOWNTOWN
East Village/Lower East Side Street Art
Look for lots of cool murals around this hip neighborhood, on walls, sliding metal gates and on the sidewalk. Current favorite include a I ❤️ NY mural at The Jones NYC (Great Jones Street & Bowery), a swing you can sit on among tulips at Bloomeffects (Bowery & Bleecker), a heart door at
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Mural
See a colorful three-story-tall celebrating RBG’s life and achievements by New York-based street artist “Elle.” Look for the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge among symbols representing this born-in-Brooklyn hero.
Lazy Oaf at Galeria Melissa
Chill in a groovy pastel recreation of the Lazy Oaf studios in London with daisy pillows and checkered mirror at a friendly shoe store Galleria Melissa in celebration of the the return Melissa x LazyOaf sandal collabs, available in adult and kid sizes in a range of colors.
John Russell: Well
The floor is lava – walk on an 87 x 22 foot depiction of Hell with accompanying audio. Look for cool/creepy details.
On the second floor; stair access only.
CHELSEA/MEATPACKING
Tom Fruin’s Bombora House
Walk through a large, illuminated, stained glass-like house dubbed “Bombora House,” surrounded by smaller “satellite” house-shaped sculptures. Interact with it via text, prompting a unique programmed light reaction. The latest installment of Tom Fruin’s Icon series of everyday objects reimagined and reinterpreted in steel, colored acrylic glass, and specialized lighting.
Lots of great dining options…
Joyce Pensato Fuggetabout It (Redux)
Explore New York artist Joyce Pensato’s installation “Fuggetabout It” commemorating her move from her beloved studio on Olive Street in East Williamsburg after three decades of work. Look for stuffed animals; figurines; posters, books, invitation cards, and other paper ephemera; milk crates; furniture, both broken and intact; paint cans and paintbrushes – most of them…
Tara Donovan Intermediaries
Look at and through perception-bending, large-scale sculptures made of commonplace transparent materials that refract light and distort their surrounding space. Continue exploring patterns and interruptions in Tara Donovan’s drawings and wall-bound pieces.
Online timed appointment required.
High Line Nine
Explore a collection of sky-lit galleries with a rotating cross-section of culture. Watch resident artists create (behind glass) and see finished work in a variety of mediums. Through the end of February, play a Steinway & Sons Grand Piano vinyl wrapped in the gorgeous florals of artist Tricia Paoluccio of Modern Pressed Flower.
Take a…
iLLUSiONAL
Chashama’s latest exhibit in unused real estate examines the role of the artist as magician/manipulator of reality. This group exhibition includes site-specific installations, video projections, assemblage, sculptures with projected light and 3-D photography.
Red Grooms
See over 30 of of Red Grooms’vibrant paintings and “sculpto-picto-ramas.” Look for interesting details in these vibrant, these inventive and witty depictions of New York.
MIDTOWN
King Nyani
Midtown-30sNestle in the hand of King Nyani, a 23 ft long bronze gorilla sculpture by world-renowned public artists Gillie and Marc Schattner. Nyani will lounge in Bella Abzug Park, already a colorful, engaging place to play, near Hudson Yards for 11 months to bring awareness and raise funds for the critically endangered gorilla species through…
Tom Friedman’s “Looking Up”
Midtown-50sSee a 10-foot tall stainless steel sculpture by American artist Tom Friedman, depicts a quasi-human figure gazing up to the heavens. Created from the use of crushed aluminum foil pans through a process of molding and lost wax casting, the sculpture retains the imprint of the original materials.
Located at the entrance…
Love Letters
Midtown-40sRead and leave love letters inside a double heart sculpture made from repurposed and donated plywood from building façades across New York City. Explore the multiple seating arrangements and levels. Designed by Soft-Firm (from Lexi Tsien and Talitha Liu), curated by Reddymade. Winner of the 13th annual Valentine’s season Love in Times Square Design Competition.
…
OFF THE WALL
Midtown-30sSee and interact with site-specific large-scale art (including the Vessel, currently closed for safety) throughout the Hudson Yards mall and plaza. Activate pieces by 13 different artists that relate back to the site’s past, present or future.
Lots of great food options including Mercado Little Spain and a…
UPTOWN
Sam Moyer: Doors For Doris
Central ParkTry to open massive stone doors in a massive three-part sculpture on the southeastern edge of Central Park. Moyer’s hybrid sculpture unites imported stone with rock indigenous to the New York region with beautiful inlaid marble fragments. The title pays homage to Public Art Fund founder, Doris C. Freedman (1928-1981)
The Peace Fountain & Children’s Sculpture Garden
HarlemSee charming small bronze animal sculptures created by K-12 students from NYC and tri-state area around a 40-foot high bronze sculpture by Cathedral Artist-in-Residence Greg Wyatt that weaves together several representations of the conflict between good and evil. Also look for peacocks roaming around the lovely grands of the grand Cathedral.
François Morellet In-Coherent
Upper East Side-60sSee innovative geometric abstraction (creative, cool shapes) by prolific self-taught painter, sculptor, and installation artist François Morellet. Paintings, giant installation and several neon works bring Dada- infused irreverence, irony, and joyful lightness to his aspiration of dismantling traditional hierarchies and embracing elements of randomness and chance within the framework of pre-established systems.
BROOKLYN/QUEENS
Reverberation
Brooklyn-DUMBO, Downtown & HeightsUse foot pedals to ring five cast bronze symphonic bell structures along the Brooklyn waterfront. Each bell has a unique pattern of drilled holes and distinct tones that match evocative titles: Reflector, Singer, Dreamer, Listener, and Mother.
Artist Davina Semo intends for these bright orange bells to sound an optimistic note. As we “ring out…
Monuments Now
Queens-LICThis outdoor exhibition seeks to address the role of monuments in society and commemorate underrepresented narratives such as diasporic, Indigenous, and queer histories. Part I features Jeffrey Gibson’s massive technicolor ziggurat ‘Because Once You Enter My House It Becomes Our House‘ and works by Paul Ramírez Jonas and Xaviera Simmons.
