by Meredith Bergman

Monumental Bronze sculpture by Stephan Weiss

On April 3rd Marilyn Dorato, representing the GVBA and Meredith Bergmann representing the Charles St Association were invited to the studio of the late Stephan Weiss to view his sculptures. The artist’s wife, Donna Karan, offered the sculpture entitled the Big Apple to the Hudson River Park in the hope that it will be placed in a location (for the span of 2-3 years) close to Charles Street*.

The bronze sculpture, measuring over 9 feet in circumference and10 feet high, is a modernist rendering of an apple. Surrounding the sculpture is a bench for seating. Stephan Weiss, a lifetime New Yorker, completed this piece in his studio on Charles Street. Mr. Weiss’s favourite artistic theme, chaos and science, truly embodies the spirit of Greenwich Village as the Village, known for its raucous, if not, chaotic political atmosphere emerges as a coherent, unified force that is at once strong and vibrant.

To have the sculpture sited in the Park, the Hudson River Park Trust relied on the input of a number of local organizations that included the Charles Street Association, Community Board 2 (Waterfront and Art Committees) and the GVBA. While the GVBA does not make recommendations based on aesthetics, the GVBA does support the idea of public art (especially if it is local) and made a recommendation based on that policy.

*All costs for installation will be assumed by Ms. Karan.

“The Apple” was placed in the Hudson River Park in the Millennium Garden at Charles St. on June10,2004. This date marked the third anniversary of the artist's death. The sculpture is on loan for two or three years, but Connie Fishman, HRPT president , said that it may be a permanent installation if it receives a favorable public response.

GVBA News Summer 2004 — Contents