Gary Hume, Back of a Snowman
October 8, 2002 - April 20, 2003

Not all that long ago, a defunct landfill, an uninhabited corporate lobby, and an elegant Beaux Arts building were among several spaces in Lower Manhattan enlivened with pioneering art installations and performances presented by Creative Time. It is hard to imagine that, as recently as the 1970s, places like Battery Park City and the U.S. Custom House were devoid of tenants and cultural activity. Today, the area is home to a celebrated collection of public art as well as world-class museums and numerous performing arts festivals. While Lower Manhattan has blossomed over the past 25 years, so too has Creative Time. As the City's preeminent non-profit public arts presenter, we have taken the arts virtually anywhere that an artist can imagine — from the landmark Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage and Times Square to the Internet and the skies over Manhattan. For Creative Time, public art is a celebration of urban life and makes our relationship to our City, and each other, more meaningful. We thus relish the opportunity to present new commissions in our installation series, Art on the Plaza, at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park, where sweeping views of the New York Harbor are a stone's throw from the bustle of Wall Street.

Creative Time proudly introduces Gary Hume's Back of a Snowman, the second work in Art on the Plaza, which further demonstrates Creative Time's fluid, diverse — and sometimes fanciful — approach to invigorating New York City with fresh artistic visions. Standing ten feet tall on the plaza, Back of a Snowman is the first of Hume's snowman series to be situated outdoors and will bridge the fall, winter, and spring seasons, reminding us of how distant the natural environment can feel in an urban context. The snowman's half-ton bronze heft defies the ephemerallity of its implied medium and creates a seamless marriage between the permanent and temporary. The sculpture's dimpled white, enameled spheres convey an elegance reminiscent of modernist abstract sculpture as well as the humor and immediacy of Pop Art. But without coal, carrots, or a top hat, Hume's sculpture is a blank canvas, whose brightly reflective surface ignites our imaginations and memories. Juxtaposed against the sleek backdrop of The Ritz-Carlton and the Lower Manhattan skyline, Creative Time hopes that Hume's Back of a Snowman will uplift and delight New York audiences.

We are grateful to Gary Hume and to the Matthew Marks Gallery for generously helping to make this presentation possible. Creative Time's Board of Directors extends a special thanks to our friends at Millennium Partners, who initiated Art on the Plaza and have since kindly nurtured the program, as well as to the Battery Park City Authority. On behalf of all of us, we hope you will take the time to enjoy Back of a Snowman and the cultural treasures of Lower Manhattan, again and again.

Anne Pasternak
Executive Director