Hero and Superhero
The Guardians: Hero
and Superhero by Italian architect and designer Antonio Pio Saracino are two public sculptures at gateway to Bryant Park. These statues,
one in marble and the other in
mirror-polished stainless steel, are located at the north and south ends of the public
plaza at Three Bryant Park between 41st and 42nd Streets .
Saracino is an Italian-born architect and designer based in
New York City. Over the past ten years,
he’s exhibited in galleries and museums throughout Europe, the Middle East,
North and South America, and Australia.
In 2013, New York’s Museum of Arts and Design featured
Saracino’s work in the exhibition “Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital"
at MAD museum near Colambus circle.I wrote about this exhibitoin in one of myposts.
Also in 2013, in New York, Saracino designed The Guardians:
Hero and Superhero, two 13-foot-tall sculptures, one in marble, the other in
stainless steel, which sit at the entrance to Midtown Manhattan’s Bryant Park.
Hero, made in New York of 8,000 pounds of marble, watches
over uptown Manhattan. The 13-foot statue updates Michaelangelo’s
David, historical defender of Florence, as a defender of New York City.
White marble slates of the statue came
from the largest quarry in the world, located in Danby, Vermont, whose general
manager and owner come from Carrara (Italy), as do many of its workers and much
of its equipment. The slates were then brought to New York’s ABC Stone company
to be cut and assembled as per the instructions given by Saracino, who was
assisted by structural engineers from the New York-based Experion Design Group.
This statue has been included in the 2014
exhibition in the Gallery of the Academy of Florence, honoring the 450th
anniversary of Michelangelo’s death. Hero is a Gift from the Italian Government
to the U.S. The ambassador of Italy to
the United States, Claudio Bisogniero, stated: “David: such a strong symbol of
Italian cultural heritage, and now a Guardian of the friendship between our two
countries".
Saracino, interviewed on the day of the installation in the
plaza, said: “I was asked by the Italian Embassy to look at Michelangelo’s
David for inspiration. Clearly such a momentous reference was daunting. Yet I
was so proud to be able to create a symbol that could represent a gift from my
native Italy to New York, that I accepted the extraordinary challenge”.
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