The best outdoor art in NYC this winter

On a February morning in the early aughts, an ambitious public art project called “The Gates” filled Central Park with flowing orange flags that visitors could walk beneath. It was open for just two weeks, bringing some much-needed levity to the city. More than 4 million people visited Central Park during the show's short run, and it generated an estimated $254 million in economic activity across the city.

Now, in celebration of these beloved artworks by the late artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, a cutting-edge augmented reality experience on the Bloomberg Connects app will allow New Yorkers to experience The Gates once again. It's available to view in Central Park, along with a complementary exhibition at The Shed, from February 12-March 23.

Talk about artistic recycling: "Love Ever After," a new 50-square-foot heart sculpture in Times Square is made with over four dozen oyster cages.

Created by Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio and presented by Times Square Arts, the visually striking installation is a three-dimensional heart that changes color and shape as you move around it. New York used to be known as the "big oyster" because of the abundance of shellfish in its harbor. The metal mesh used in building "Love Ever After" will be placed in the New York Harbor by Billion Oyster Project once the installation wraps up.

Yes, it's freezing outside, but we promise that this new immersive art installation at Pier 17 by Fulton Street and Seaport Square is worthy of a trek into the cold.

MoonGARDEN, which originally debuted in Montreal, is made up of 20 spheres that range from 6 to 30 feet in diameter. Each one responds to light sources, from flashlights to smartphones, allowing folks to interact with the surfaces in their own way.

The installation, on view through February 2025, is the ideal photo opp for Instagram.

Stroll through the Flatiron-NoMad area to see two colorful, interactive pieces of public art. "The Diamonds" by Perséides Studio and "Spectrum" by Mirari will be on display through February 28.

"The Diamonds" is an interactive work composed of three luminous structures that light up when spun around by passerby. The trio of 13-foot-tall rotating sculptures work together to harmonize light, music and motion to create a mesmerizing symphony of sensory experiences aided by the slew of diamonds that make up the actual work. Each diamond will also play its own music—original melodies composed by musician Stefie Shock. 

"Spectrum," on the other hand, will focus on the act of communication: pedestrians will be invited to speak across a series of rings, observe their voices travel through space and light up various portions of the sculpture.

If you find yourself in Union Square these days, you'd be remiss not to do a double-take: that's because there are currently two pink chairs facing each other while soaring 15 feet into the sky smack-dab in the middle of the park as part of a new public art installation.

Dubbed "The Space Between Us," the project is by artist, composer and sculptor Risha Gorig, and it has a deep meaning behind it. The two soaring chairs are meant to represent the act of public discourse, elevating conversation far above the chaos of the city.

"The Space Between Us" will be on display through May of 2025.

Most New Yorkers encounter pigeons every day and don't pay much attention to these ubiquitous birds often maligned as "flying rats." But this new pigeon—a 16-foot tall aluminum version—is impossible to ignore. 

Called “Dinosaur,” this colossal pigeon has perched on the High Line. This artwork by Iván Argote isn't just a hyper-realistic rendering of the bird; instead it challenges traditions of who and what we monumentalize, as well as explore ideas around migration and the long view of history. The pigeon statue was one of the most polarizing proposals when High Line Art shared artwork suggestions a few years ago, so it's surely ruffling some feathers.

See it until April 2026. 

"Rappin' Max Robot," a towering 18-foot-tall, 7,000-pound metal sculpture is now hanging out in Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza. The piece was created by Welder Underground, a Bushwick-based apprenticeship program for welders and fabricators, and it pays homage to the titular character in Eric Orr's 1986 comic book.

If Max looks fairly familiar, it's because the statue was initially installed outside of the Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx. Following ita tenure at Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza, the art piece will then be permanently installed at Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad in Paris. See it in Brooklyn through April 2025.

Puerto Rican artist Edra Soto is known for her larger-than-life sculptures, which challenge the viewer to think about identity, colonialism and social justice. 

Her latest installation, now on view at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park, does just that: Graft is an eye-catching sculpture based on rejas, the wrought iron screens frequently seen inside homes throughout Puerto Rico.  

Made from steel and terrazo, the piece serves as an homage to Puerto Rico's working class communities, with one side representing a home's exterior and the other reflecting the privacy and intimacy of its interior.

The sculpture will be on display until August 24, 2025. 

It’s time to Oc-topi Wall Street!

Gillie and Marc, the renowned artistic duo known for a number of larger-than-life wildlife sculptures, are exhibiting an array of animal sculptures outside the World Trade Center, including the world’s largest octopus sculpture!

The exhibition named “Wildlife Wonders” includes three interactive bronze works from other pieces that feature their main two iconic characters, Rabbitwomen and Dogman, as well as sculptures of a range of endangered species. The spotlight, however, is on the giant octopus, which spans a whopping 36 feet and weighs around 7 tons. Woven throughout the animal’s eight tentacles are numerous endangered species, like rhinos and zebras. See it through July 31, 2025.  

These statues of people who are torn apart and frozen in time are commanding attention in Manhattan. "Travelers" is a series of figurative sculptures by renowned artist Bruno Catalano, and they definitely deserve a look—and a second or third look, too. Find them in Murray Hill along Park Avenue between 34th and 38th streets.

Each sculpture depicts a person who looks like they’re stalled mid-step, perhaps caught between the past and the present. Their bodies are broken apart at the torso, evoking the scars, complex identities, shadowy areas of each person’s self-image. Though the sculptures are depicted in motion, we don’t know where they started and where they’re going. Each one—like all of us—carries their baggage with them.  

These "Travelers" will be turning heads in New York City for quite a while. See them in Murray Hill now through May 2025.  

Are these otherworldly sculptures emerging from the depths of the earth or returning to the underworld? That's the question Huma Bhabha hopes visitors will ponder as they explore her monumental new bronze artworks in Brooklyn. 

Titled "Before the End," the installation of four, eight-foot tall bronze sculptures topped with animal skull fragments is now on view through March 9, 2025. Find it at the Pier 3 Greenway Terrace in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Bhabha is known for reimagining the figure in her sculptures and drawings. In this case, she did that by casting carved cork and skull fragments in a piece that interrogates the intersections of art, science fiction, horror, and mythology.

Wild Couch Party, a bronze sculpture featuring some of the most endangered animals in the world just hanging out, has debuted at 28 Liberty Street in the Financial District. It's the latest piece by husband-and-wife artist duo Gillie and Marc Schattner. 

Rabbitwoman and Dogman, the anthropomorphic characters brought to life by the artists as vessels for their own messages regarding the current world order, are the hosts of the couch party, each one sitting beside an African elephant.

Wild Couch Party also features a hippo, a Masai giraffe, a Bengal tiger, a koala, a chimpanzee, Grevy's zebra, a Northern white rhino, a lion, a mountain gorilla, an orangutan and an Arabian red fox. See it through May 28, 2025.

Artists are turning ugly construction scaffolding and fencing into beautiful artwork across the city, thanks to the City Canvas program. You can see their latest project, which covers 220 feet of fencing, in East Harlem on Second Avenue between 97th and 99th Streets. 

You'll see two pieces—one by Dario Mohr and the other created by East Harlem residents through the global art project Inside Out—that have taken over the construction scaffolding outside of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan.

The Inside Out installation is a collection of black-and-white portraits of East Harlem residents, especially residents of NYCHA's East River Houses. It is part of artist JR's Inside Out Project. As for Mohr, he collaborated with youth from East River Houses on his monumental works titled Adinkrahene. The collection is tied together through Adinkra symbols, which originated from the Asante Kingdom, and have recently become a ubiquitous symbol of the greater African Diaspora. 

If you’ve spent any amount of time in Upper Manhattan, chances are you’ve seen a mysterious figure spray painting local storefronts in brightly colored hues.

Snoeman, a beloved NYC-based graffiti artist, likes to keep a low profile. On the streets, it’s unlikely you’ll recognize him without a spray can in his hands and a protective mask over his face. Online, you'll find nothing more than a partly-covered profile. But the same can’t be said for Snoeman’s work—a bold, unique style that is instantly recognizable from miles away.

Since the start of the pandemic, Snoeman has been at work beautifying bodega exteriors in Washington Heights and beyond. The artist’s use of vivid color and thick lines, most times paired with uplifting messages and signature figures, has helped local businesses gain attention while livening up surrounding neighborhoods. Take a stroll through the neighborhood and see how many you can find.

There's a massive sea serpent on the loose in the Rockaways with an uncanny resemblance to a subway train. This silvery gray creature snakes through an empty lot, but it comes in peace. 

"Subway Sea Serpent," the latest sculpture by Zaq Landsberg and Joey Castillo is now on view indefinitely at Beach 60th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard. 

The artists were inspired by the A train, the crucial subway line that links the Rockaways to the rest of New York City. Located not far from subway station, it looks as if the artwork jumped from the elevated tracks to burrow through the ground in search of the beach. Segments of the cars peek above the grass as if the serpent's swimming through the dirt. 

Right outside the historic Villa Albertine’s garden wall, sits a 4-foot-tall bronze sculpture of the Little Prince from the much beloved French children’s book, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

The new artwork by French sculptor Jean-Marc de Pas and the American Society of Le Souvenir Français with the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Youth Foundation honors the 80th anniversary of the 1943 book and the lives it has touched across the decades.

The sculpture was carved from clay and cast in bronze in one single piece at the sculptor’s studio in Normandy, France and was just unveiled at the Villa Albertine’s Payne Whitney Mansion at 972 Fifth Avenue.

Four beautiful, powerful murals are adding some colorful inspiration around Brooklyn thanks to a local art organization called Groundswell. Local students painted each one with the help of a professional artist, giving kids a chance to truly make their mark on the neighborhood. 

More than 50 students worked on the murals as part of Groundswell's Summer Leadership Institute program. Since its founding more than two decades ago, Groundswell has focused on using art as a tool for social change; it's painted more than 600 murals across the city so far, including these new additions.

Find the murals in Bushwick, Sunset Park, Cypress Hills and Brownsville. Here's the story behind each one.  

Visitors to Marsha P. Johnson Park in Brooklyn will now be greeted with a colorful floral archway in honor of the late transgender activist. 

After growing up in New Jersey during the 1940s, Johnson moved to Greenwich Village adopting the full name Marsha P. Johnson with the "P" standing for "Pay It No Mind." The archway bears that phrase in bold white lettering. "To her, this was a life motto and a response to questions about her gender," according to the New-York Historical Society.

Large floral sculptures in pink, blue, red and yellow decorate the top of the archway, with gem-like petal designs along the sides.

A 25-foot-tall statue celebrating the life of abolitionist hero Harriet Tubman sits in Harriet Tubman Square by Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey. It's located just 20 minutes from NYC.

“Shadow of a Face,” designed by architect and New Jersey native Nina Cooke John, replaced the monument of Christopher Columbus that stood in its place until its removal in 2020, following George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis.

Every day, thousands of people walk through Times Square, rushing to catch the subway, heading to work, meandering through shops—many of them unaware that they're stepping over a revolutionary art project that's been a part of the city for decades. 

Purposely unmarked, it's easy to miss this piece of auditory art because truly experiencing it requires tuning into a specific frequency in the most cacophonous place in America. The late artist Max Neuhaus's installation called "Times Square" sounds like the echo of a bell ringing. It's hard to place this droning tone among all the other noises there, especially because the sound emanates from a typical grate right beneath your feet. 

The work is on view 24/7, but we recommend visiting in the early morning when it's quieter. Head to the Broadway Pedestrian Plaza between 45th and 46th Streets (between Broadway and Seventh Avenue), remove your headphones and listen. 

Next time you're near the Times Square subway station, check out the entrance found within the pedestrian plaza near the corner of 43rd Street. It has a massive new mosaic by artist Nick Cave that commuters can admire. Commissioned by the MTA's public arts program, the work is called "Every One, Each One, Equal All," and it is made up of three separate art pieces.

"Times Square is one of the busiest, most diverse and fabulously kinetic places on the planet," Cave said in an official statement. "For this project I took the above ground color, movement and cross-pollination of humanity, bundled it into a powerful and compact energy mass that is taken underground."

A cool art installation that uses augmented reality is transforming Battery Park City into a bird watcher's paradise. Those who walk along Battery Park City's riverfront, from South Cove north along Rockefeller Park, will be able to access an invisible world of birds.

Named "Bird’s-Eye View," this new artwork by New York City-based artist Shuli Sadé showcases 30 species of birds that seek temporary or permanent refuge near Manhattan’s waterways via photographs and original watercolors by Sadé through the Adobe Aero app and a smartphone camera. All you need to do is scan one of 70 QR codes on any of the 14 signs along the water to view local birds and explore their habitats and migratory patterns.

The massive ghostly figure of a shed now rises out of the Hudson River near Pier 52.

The permanent exhibitition, named "Day's End" by its creator David Hammond, is made of slender steel pipes that reach 52 feet at its peak and together measure 325 feet long and 65 feet wide. It pays tribute to an artist, Gordon Matta-Clark, who transformed an abandoned shed that once sat on Pier 52 as well as to the history of the city's waterfront. In 1975, he carved massive openings into the shed, which he described as a "temple to sun and water," according to the Whitney, which proposed the public art installation.

Fearless Girl is the work of artist Kristen Visbal as commissioned by State Street Global Advisors. The bronze sculpture was moved away from its first location in 2010, following complaints that it was distracting tourists from the Charging Bull statue that is also found there. The outline of Fearless Girl's footprints is still by the downtown park, though, and folks are encouraged to "stand for her" while in the area.

The statue itself has been standing tall and strong in front of the New York Stock Exchange for a few years now. No matter where our girl stands, one thing's for sure: women are making strides all around the country and we should celebrate them today and forevermore.

Weighing in at 1,000 pounds, Isa Genzken's "Rose III" was unveiled on the seventh anniversary of Occupy Wall Street’s takeover of Zuccotti Park.

Genzken works in a wide range of mediums, and giant flowers have been a recurring theme for her: A similar rose sculpture was installed on the New Museum’s facade from 2010 to 2013, while a pair of gargantuan white orchids (rising to 28 and 34 feet respectively) stood at Doris C. Freedman Plaza in front of Central Park during the spring and summer of 2016. As for "Rose III," it remains on long term view at Zuccotti Park.