New York Diary
Don’t Miss the High Drama in Midtown Manhattan!
New York City is an amazing chameleon which keeps changing its colors through the various seasons and through interactions with the dynamic artists, designers and communities which make it the vital life force that it is. This latest juxtaposition of joy, art and the city is New York Roots, sculptor Steve Tobin’s latest public art installation in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. Seven of his towering tree-root sculptures are lining plazas on Broadway between 39th and 40th streets and 40th and 41st streets. On Earth Day we can appreciate the appearance of these tree-inspired forms in a largely tree-less city. Tobin has created many public art installations including a year-long exhibition on Maui titled Earth to Sky, 2024. His Trinity Root, 2005, is a monumental bronze sculpture cast from the roots of the sycamore tree that sheltered St. Paul’s chapel during 9/11. It was on view in lower Manhattan for a decade.
The artist is represented by the Sundaram Tagore Gallery which is celebrating its 25th year this year. As the gallerist Sundaram Tagore explains, “New York Roots embodies both the unseen strength of roots and the dynamic energy of human connection, evoking the sweeping motion of Japanese calligraphy and the fluidity of dance and embrace.
These colossal structures, with the tallest reaching 22 feet, not only create striking landscapes through their sheer height but also through their flowing, intertwined shapes and the negative spaces they create. As viewers move around and beneath the sculptures, the forms shift and evolve, revealing ever-changing perspectives of the sky and cityscape. Tobin fabricates these modernist, painted steel constructions from pipes recycled from the oil industry.”
Indeed, that re-creation is another reason to celebrate these innovative sculptures. At a time when we are faced with a dying planet and issues of wastage and recycling, Tobin seamlessly intertwines nature and industry using a wide range of materials. In these sculptures he has created public art from pipes recycled from the oil industry. In other works, he has given a new life, a rebirth, to discards of steel, bronze, stone and glass. With a background in theoretical mathematics and physics, his work is deeply influenced and guided by scientific principles as well as by his time spent teaching in Japan and travels in Africa.
Tobin’s work has been collected and exhibited worldwide, including at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida; New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana; White House Permanent Collection, Washington, DC; Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio; and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Says Sundaram Tagore, “We’re delighted to be working with Steve Tobin, an innovative artist who has lived and worked around the world and finds inspiration in everything from ancient tree roots to Japanese calligraphy. His modernist aesthetic and shared ethos of promoting cross-cultural conversation through art makes him a perfect fit for the gallery. We can’t wait to see what comes from this collaboration.”
Tobin’s magnificent sculptures transform our view of the familiar New York City landscape and gives us the ability to see it with fresh eyes. This is made possible through the city’s ability to fund public art through institutions and corporations that care about the quality of life in the city. The two organizations involved here are The Garment District Alliance which is dedicated to improving the experience of the city for its residents and visitors.
Also responsible for our ability to enjoy these public artworks is New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program (NYC DOT Art) which partners with community-based, nonprofit organizations and professional artists to present temporary public art on NYC DOT property throughout the five boroughs for up to eleven months.
As Barbara A. Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance, says, “By framing the city through sweeping curves, Steve’s impressive sculptures invite passersby to engage with their surroundings in a new way, offering a moment of sanctuary while celebrating the energy that pulses through the streets we call home.”
These monumental artworks bring the city’s art world outdoors and turn New York City into a gigantic canvas to display our love of beauty, our dreams, and our universal concerns. So, catch the experience while you can – the exhibition is on from April 2 through February 2026.
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