The Project
Photo by James Ewing
Union Square is one of New York City’s most active social, cultural, and commercial centers. It is home to many well-known monuments, including statues of George Washington and Mahatma Gandhi. From 1968 to 1984 it was the location of Andy Warhol’s Factory, where he and his collaborators reinvented the conventional artist’s studio, producing silkscreen paintings, films, music, books, magazines, and more. With his Union Square Factory as a creative hub, Warhol became synonymous with the Downtown art scene.
Inspired by Warhol’s art and life, Rob Pruitt (b. 1964, Washington DC) created The Andy Monument as a tribute to the late artist. It stands on the street corner, just as Warhol did when he signed and gave away copies of Interview magazine. Pruitt’s sculpture adapts and transforms the familiar tradition of classical statuary. The figure is based on a combination of digital scanning of a live model and hand sculpting, its surface finished in chrome, mounted on a concrete pedestal. It depicts Warhol as a ghostly, silver presence: a potent cultural force as both artist and self-created myth. As Rob Pruitt observes, “Like so many other artists and performers and people who don’t fit in because they’re gay or otherwise different, Andy moved here to become who he was, to fulfill his dreams and make it big. He still represents that courage and that possibility. That’s why I came to New York, and that’s what my Andy Monument is about.”
Nicholas Baume
Director & Chief Curator, Public Art Fund
Sponsors
Major support provided by Con Edison, Rebecca & Marty Eisenberg, Katherine Farley & Jerry I. Speyer, and Holly & Jonathan Lipton.
Additional support from Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
Made possible through the cooperation of the Union Square Partnership and the New York City Department of Transportation.
Special thanks to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris; Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe; Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; New York Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn; and Jennifer E. Falk, Executive Director, Union Square Partnership.
The Union Square Partnership is the leading advocate for the Union Square-14th Street community, working collaboratively with area residents, businesses, and cultural and academic institutions to ensure the district's continued growth and success. For more information, please visit www.unionsquarenyc.org.
As part of the New York City Department of Transportation’s (DOT) “World Class Streets” initiative, the agency’s Urban Art Program works with community-based and not-for-profit organizations to install murals, sculptures and other art forms in plazas and on medians, triangles, sidewalks, jersey barriers and construction fences around the City for up to 11 months. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/urbanart.
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