Outdoor Art Extravaganza!

Summer is here, and what better way to enjoy the beautiful weather than by visiting outdoor art? Here is your curated list of outdoor art to see in New York now.

Yayoi Kusama at the New York Botanical Garden

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama transformed the 250-acre landscape of the New York Botanical Garden into a dreamy cosmic wonderland by installing monumental floral sculptures throughout the garden.

Titled COSMIC NATURE, the exhibition was inspired by Kusama’s lifelong fascination with the natural world that began with her childhood spent in the greenhouses, gardens and fields of her family’s seed nursery.

Through October 31, tickets required

2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx

Images from the artist

Alex Da Corte at the Met’s Roof Garden

Philadelphia-based artist Alex Da Cote was tapped by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for this summer’s rooftop commission. Playful and celebratory, Da Corte’s unique installation titled As Long as the Sun Lasts features a blue Big Bird swinging atop a Calder-like mobile. The work returns us to a place of childlike wonder as we sit atop the Met and enjoy the incredible view of New York.

Through October 31

The Met Rooftop Garden, 1000 Fifth Avenue

Image courtesy of the Met

Storm King Art Center

A 500-acre outdoor museum tucked into the Hudson Valley, Storm King Art Center is worth a visit to see breathtaking large-scale sculpture and site-specific installations amid rolling hills, dreamy meadows and a picturesque Hudson Valley landscape.

One of the largest collections of outdoor artwork in America, Storm King’s core collection includes work by Mark di Suvero, Alexander Calder, David Smith, Isamu Noguchi, Richard Serra, Louise Nevelson, Sol Lewitt, Roy Lichtenstein, among many other masters.

Tickets required

1 Museum Road, New Windsor

Images courtesy of Storm King; artwork by Richard Serra and Sarah Sze

David Hammons at Hudson River Park

In 1975, the artist Gordon Matta-Clark transformed a dilapidated Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company warehouse at Pier 52 into a work of art: he cut openings into the shed’s floors and walls so light beautifully filtered through, creating “a peaceful enclosure, a joyous situation.” In 1979, the pier/shed/artwork was demolished.

Now, David Hammons’ new work Days End—a three-dimensional, steel blueprint of the original shed—has been erected as an homage to Matta-Clark and the ever-changing nature of New York. Visit the installation, watch the sunset beyond it and see New York’s history come to life.

Permanently installed

Hudson River Park, along the southern edge of Gansevoort Peninsula (directly across from the Whitney)

Image courtesy of The New York Times

Melvin Edwards at City Hall Park

The artist Melvin Edwards—whose career spans fifty years—is celebrated for his distinctive sculptures and three-dimensional installations created from welded steel, barbed wire, chain and machine parts. His work brilliantly reimagines monumental civic sculpture by uniting abstract forms with personal symbols to address issues of race, labor and the African Diaspora.

Installed throughout City Hall Park, the outdoor exhibition Brighter Days surveys Edwards’ career with five monumental sculptures from 1970 to 1996 as well as one new large-scale work.

Through November 28

City Hall Park, (below Chambers Street, east of Broadway)

Image courtesy of Public Art Fund

Noguchi Museum Garden

A serene oasis in Queens, Noguchi Museum—with its indoor/outdoor galleries and beautiful sculpture garden—make for a wonderful escape to enjoy the beautiful art of the famed Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi. The Museum’s incredible sculpture garden is the culmination of Noguchi’s exploration of Japanese garden design and is well worth the visit.

Reservation required

9-01 33rd Road (at Vernon Boulevard), Long Island City

Image courtesy of Noguchi Museum

Sanford Biggers at Rockefeller Center

Sanford Biggers’ towering, bronze sculpture Oracle welcomes visitors to Rockefeller Center. Part of the artist’s “Chimera” sculpture series, which merges African masks and European figures, the seated body of Oracle references the ancient Temple of Zeus, while its head references masks from various African cultures. In his work, Biggers is interested in contrasting white-washing by academics and historians of classical Greco-Roman sculpture with the early twentieth century Black-washing of African sculptural objects.

This is the first-ever campus-wide commission of Rockefeller Center by an artist, and in addition to Oracle, Biggers has transformed the iconic flags at Rockefeller to show his own designs.

Through June 29

Rockefeller Plaza, between 49th and 50th Streets

Image courtesy of Rockefeller Center

Art at the High Line

A walk on the High Line always entails so much art, in addition to the incredible views of the city!

Now on view are The Musical Brain, a group exhibition by Rebecca Belmore and Osvaldo Yero, Vivian Caccuri, Raúl de Nieves, Guillermo Galindo, David Horvitz, Mai-Thu Perret, Naama Tsabar, and Antonio Vega Macotela celebrates the power music has in bringing us together; Hannah Levy’s playful Retainer (a large-scale marble sculpture of a retainer that brings us back to high school); a large-scale fiberglass sculpture of a drone by Sam Durant; and Ibrahim Mahama’s beautiful meditation on nature and industrialization.

Reservations required on weekends

Entrances at Gansevoort Street, 23rd Street or 30th Street

Image from The Musical Brain courtesy of Daryanani Law Group Blog

Maya Lin at Madison Square Park

Maya Lin’s “Ghost Forest,” made up of dead trees “planted” into Madison Square Park, show us New York after sea levels rise. Some of these trees, or rather barren trunks of 49 Atlantic White Cedars, are over 80 years old and make an arresting statement about the effects of climate change.

Through November 15

Madison Square Park

Image courtesy of Madison Square Park

NADA House at Governors Island

An exciting exhibition presented by the New Art Dealer’s Alliance on Governors Island, NADA House 2021 is the third installment of a collaborative exhibition between 66 galleries, non-profits, artist-run spaces and curators to present the work 100-plus artists.

The exhibition presents large-scale installations, immersive environments, wall murals, and outdoor sculpture, much of which responds directly to Governors Island’s complex history. Works have been installed throughout five historic houses on the island as well as outside—and mark the largest presentation of outdoor art by NADA House to date!

Through August 1

403-405 Colonels Road, Governors Island

Image: John Drue Scott Worrell, “FACULTY,” 2021, courtesy of Gothamist

Socrates Sculpture Park

Socrates Sculpture Park is former landfill site now home to sprawling greens and large-scale sculpture and multimedia installations.

This summer’s exciting exhibition, Planeta Abuelx by Guadalupe Maravilla explores ancestral and Indigenous practices of holistic healing. As part of the exhibition, Maravilla will offer a series of healing sound baths amid the art.

Planeta Abuelx on view through September 5, free admission

32-01 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City

Image courtesy of Socrates Sculpture Park

Written by Samantha Kohl