Rooftop Figures Spark Controversy
‘Event Horizon’, Antony Gormley‘s installation of 31 life-size fibreglass and cast iron statues that first peopled London’s South Bank in 2007, has finally transferred to midtown Manhattan. The figures are perched on the roof of the Flatiron Building, on a mighty clock tower at the bottom of Madison Avenue, and on an unassuming office block on East 26th street. Remarkably, it’s the Gormley’s first public exhibit in New York and, like many of his projects, it’s already sparking controversy. People wonder if the figures are people about to commit suicide. And folks lined up at Shake Shack pass the time in line playing a game of “Spot the Statue.”
