Work has still yet to finish on the amorphous mirrored “bean” sculpture at the base of 56 Leonard Street, an 821-foot-tall residential skyscraper in Tribeca. The art piece, which sits partially complete between the sidewalk and the cantilevering ceiling of the ground floor by the intersection of Church and Leonard Streets, is the work of Anish Kapoor, the creator of Chicago’s chrome steel-plated Cloud Gate and the ArcelorMittal Orbit from the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Herzog & de Meuron and Hill West Architects are the designers of the tower, one of the tallest structures in Lower Manhattan.
56 Leonard Street. Photo by Michael Young
56 Leonard Street. Photo by Michael Young
Recent photos show the back side of the bean facing 56 Leonard Street in place, while the inner hollow cutout has been boarded up with plywood until work resumes on the project. The chrome finish and joints between each of the panels we see so far appear smooth and seamless. The rest of the bean will bulge outward to the east and create a distorted reflection of the surrounding buildings. Click here to see what it looked like when the first curved pieces were being delivered on flatbeds and wrapped in a protective black sheets. The adjacent ground-floor retail space is still available for lease with frontage facing Church Street.
56 Leonard Street. Photo by Michael Young
56 Leonard Street. Photo by Michael Young
56 Leonard Street. Photo by Michael Young
56 Leonard Street’s staggered and protruding floors and balconies make it an eye-catching fixture on the Lower Manhattan skyline, and the addition of the smooth sculpture will further its idiosyncratic reputation.
56 Leonard Street. Photo by Michael Young
56 Leonard Street. Photo by Michael Young
56 Leonard Street. Photo by Michael Young
A completion date for Anish Kapoor’s sculpture is unclear, but it’s possible that work could resume once the weather gets warmer.
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Life in the structure and materials in the works, through the eyes of me seems to last way past: Thank you.
It looks just like 56 Leonard……half done.
Love this building. Cool from every angle! I am working on a new building about a mile away. The “glow” that this building gives off at dusk is SO captivating!
A schedule who’s only closest comparison is the Second Avenue subway.
So, The Bean is now in New York City?
Ah yes, step right up folks, it’s “ART” in the time of Covid!
Art in this unique time of suffering, struggles & sickness.
Art in this time of travail, a time of starkly painful inequality for so many.
Art that should be inspiring, healing and lifting us up,
as it soothes our weary Covid-battered society & souls.
In bold response to this ongoing & unprecedented crisis,
artist Anish Kapoor has bravely met the challenge of our times!
He emphatically proclaims: Let Them Eat Beans!
…at the gatepost of yet another gated luxury development.
Ain’t Art wonderful?
Sadly, history is repeating itself.
It is repeating itself in the toxic atmosphere of modern day Marie Antoinette Capitalism, a reign of ultra-weathly Corporate Kings, Queens and charlatans with a limitless lust for power & fealty.
Trickle-down beans anyone?
This, while a reality & socially divorced Wall Street booms & celebrates with unbounded greed and glee, as it laughs itself all the way to the bank ….for now.
January 6th 2021 showed us all too clearly the fragility of our social and political order, or what passes for order.
We should be wary, very wary, of the warnings embodied in the time-worn wisdom that teaches us , time and time again, that we shall reap what we sow.
Art can help us sow & nurture new beginnings. It can plant the creative seeds of alternate ways of growth and vision. Or it can glorify inanity, such as here.
For without an imaginative, just & equitable vision, a people will eventually perish – and join the dustheap of failed societies.
Sadly, their once-soaring crumbling skyscrapers & giant bean sculptures will be nothing more than stark tombstones;tombstones that will mark a failure of possibilities, purpose & woefully misplaced priorities.
I had an uncle growing up that frequently reminded me to lighten up and stop worrying so much. He was a positive influence on my life.
If they merged the top 10 floors of this building with the bottom 6 floors, this building would be a work of art. Just get ride of the middle.
cliked here hopeful for an update, but bupkis. why even have this no news article? why not talk to anyone about it first?? pretty lazy.
The photography made the article more than worthwhile.
It IS an update, you are rude and I will ban you from commenting if you keep leaving remarks like this one (as you have in the past).
Sigh. It’s looked like this for over a year and a half. It’s starting to rust. I keep stopping by but no progress.
I love the name of this Chicago sculpture. The artist named it “Cloud Gate.” When you stand under it and see all the people reflected who are experiencing the sculpture, you can see how appropriate this name was. When people refer to it as the “bean,” it misses the point entirely. When you see the reflections of the city in the sculpture, you are transported to a place in the heavens above… with humanity as the angels… all up in the clouds…
It has dawned on me that David (from Heaven) is a poetic genius
cant wait till someone hits it w/ a nice coat of spray paint
That dark corner behind it will make a great unofficial public toilet, much like the Morphosis-designed engineering building at Cooper Union, which is permanently surrounded with riot control fencing to keep people out.
I guess the front half is back ordered…
Months ago I was told by some building workers there that they have to wait for workers to come from Italy to complete the project. So this summer at the earliest or whenever people can travel again.