L&L Holding Company has unveiled a pair of prominent artworks at Norman Foster‘s 425 Park Avenue office skyscraper in Midtown East. The artworks now occupy the building’s jewel box triple-height lobby and show on a digital display on the three ornamental fins that crown the structure.
Both artworks are L&L’s public tribute to the late Sol LeWitt, an award-winning American artist who popularized the idea that an artwork’s concept is more important than its form.
LeWitt’s artwork in the lobby is aptly titled “Bars of Color within Squares” and features vibrant geometric shapes that are positioned to create a sense of greater depth and volume. The piece itself is massive at 39 feet tall by 13 feet wide and sits above the reception desk and lobby vestibules. The installation was handled by dedicated associates of LeWitt’s estate, who adhered to specifications outlined by the artist prior to his passing in 2007.
“Bars of Color within Squares” at 425 Park Avenue South – Photo by Alan Schindler
View of “Bars of Color within Squares” from outside 425 Park Avenue South – Photo by Alan Schindler
To further pay homage to LeWitt, L&L partnered with Sensory Interactive to complete a digital installation that illuminates the ornamental fins. The display draws inspiration from the geometric shapes and colors associated with LeWitt’s work, as well as by 425 Park’s signature diagrid design.
“From the outset, art and design have been integral elements in shaping the experience of 425 Park Avenue,” said L&L chairman and CEO David W. Levinson. “A visionary in every sense of the word, we were drawn to Sol LeWitt for the dramatic effect that his artwork has on the places and people that surround them. With this prominent and permanent new home at 425 Park Avenue, LeWitt’s work will serve to inspire building occupants and captivate passersby for decades to come.”
Aerial view of the digital installation atop 425 Park Avenue South
L&L has woven art throughout the 897-foot-tall tower. The Diagrid Club, 425 Park’s amenity and wellness center, features an installation by heralded Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Titled “Narcissus Garden,” the work consists of more than 400 reflective spheres.
At the base of the tower, L&L is working with world-renowned chef and restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten on a new restaurant named Four Twenty Five. The restaurant’s cocktail lounge will feature a 24-foot painting by abstract artist Larry Poons titled “Hunch.”
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Looking forward to seeing the digital illumination of 425 Park’s fins.
While this effort may be debated in terms of its value as art, it does point up the fact that we often neglect the impact & importance of color in our buildings and architecture. Color is a powerful tool that we either fail to use or misuse. We could do so much more in terms of using color to enhance & improve our everyday environment
Not a big fan of early 60s pop art. Could have been called “Cartoon colors within Lobby,” Boring, dated, completely superceded by graffiti art of the next decade.
This lobby is so sterile that even with this blast of color it still feels like a laboratory. Not a good way to get people out of their cozy homes into the office, very out of touch design
100% Agreed. It looks like a very expensive operating room. So much grey steel.