Alan Finkel View for the Catenary Curve

Since its completion in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge has served as an inspiration to writers, poets, musicians, and visual artists who pay homage to its majesty through their own work. Artist Alan Finkel (b. 1943, New York City, NY) shares in this tradition. His sculpture, entitled View for the Catenary Curve, in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park is the first in a series of site-specific sculptures to be sponsored by the Public Art Fund for New York City’s much-neglected waterfront.

View for the Catenary Curve, a modified water tank similar to those seen throughout the City, is sited in such a way that it serves as a “viewing station” for the Brooklyn Bridge. A small opening within it frames the river span and part of the most famous skyline in the world. Finkel enables each person who enters his sculpture to have a very personal and solitary vantage point from which to see this convergence of the natural with the man-made form.