Art on the High Line

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If you are looking for a leisurely afternoon activity or a quick escape from the concrete city blocks, the High Line park is a great place to visit, even as the weather gets cooler. Here is a quick guide to fun and funky art along the way.

Starting from the northernmost point of the High Line at 30th and 10th Avenue, take the stairs up to the park. To your right, you can take a glance at the construction of the third and final phase of the park at the Rail Yards, as well as the newest edition to High Line Art: Charles Mary Kubricht’s Alive-nesses:Proposal for Adaptation. Kubricht uses dazzle camouflage to transform storage bins and distort the viewer’s field of vision.

As you start walking south, artist JR’s black and white mural jumps out at you. This portrait of Brandon Many Ribs of the Lakota tribe from North Dakota is one piece in the the Lakota Project, a series that is part of the Inside Out Project. JR has installed large-scale pastings on buildings throughout New York.

As a surprise as you are enjoying the beautiful views and landscape around you, The Highline Zoo is on the west side of the trail. An adjacent rooftop is home to 2D animals that come alive at night with lights, sounds, and video. The project is by artists Sun Bae, Jordan Betten, and Stuart Braunstein.

Once past the 26th St. viewing spot, you will spot a striking building: HL23 by Neil Denari.

To the east of HL23 you can see Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra’s mural—an interpretation of the photograph VJ Day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt. The new take on a decades-old image is just a short walk from where the original kiss took place.

All along the High Line are sculpture pieces of the group exhibition Lilliput, on display through spring 2013. A particularly fun one is Carson by artist Tomoaki Suzuki. Carson, located at West 14th Street, is a young man with a distinctly urban flair created at one-third of human scale. For information on the other sculpture pieces, click here.