PUBLIC ART FUND PRESENTS ROB PRUITT'S THE ANDY MONUMENT

PUBLIC ART FUND PRESENTS ROB PRUITT'S THE ANDY MONUMENT, 30.MARCH-2.OCTOBER, AT THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF UNION SQUARE. THE MONUMENT TO ANDY WARHOL, THE FATHER OF POP ART AND ONE OF NEW YORK'S ENDURING CULTURAL ICONS IS INSTALLED JUST OUTSIDE THE BUILDING THAT HOUSED WARHOL'S 'FACTORY' FOR MORE THAN TEN YEARS IN THE 1970s AND EARLY 1980s, AND JUST DOWN THE STREET FROM AN EARLIER 'FACTORY' SITE. 'WE ARE THRILLED TO BE COLLABORATING WITH ROB, WHOSE WORK HAS EXACTLY THE SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY AND ENGAGEMENT THAT LENDS ITSELF SO WELL TO PUBLIC ART', SAID NICKOLAS BAUME, PUBLIC ART FUND DIRECTOR AND CHIEF CURATOR. 'INSPIRED BY WARHOL AND HIS STORY, ROB MOVED TO NEW YORK AS A YOUNG MAN AND EVEN MET WARHOL WHEN HE VISITED THE 'FACTORY' TO INTERVIEW FOR A JOB. ROB'S MEMORY OF THE ARTIST THAT DAY FORMED THE VISION FOR THIS SCULPTURE, AND I THINK THAT PERSONAL CONNECTION WILL RESONATE WITH MANY WHO COME TO VISIT, JUST AS IT DOES WITH ME.' PRUITT ENVISIONS THE MONUMENT AS A PILGRIMAGE SITE THAT EMBODIES THE SPIRIT OF WARHOL AND THE DOWNTOWN CULTURAL MOVEMENT. 'EVERY DAY A THOUSAND MORE KIDS COME TO NEW YORK PROPELLED BY HIS LEGACY. AND EVEN IF THE DECADES PASS AND WARHOL'S LEGACY BECOMES FURTHER DISTANT, THERE IS A DIRECT LINK TO HIM, LIKE THIS PILGRIMAGE, COMING HERE TO MAKE IT BIG, TO BE AN ARTIST', SAID PRUITT. 'LIKE OSCAR WILDE'S GRAVE AT PERE LACHAISE, THERE SHOULD BE A DESTINATION IN NEW YORK TO MARK THE JOURNEY. I THINK SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE IN THE STREETS OF NEW YORK, SOMETHING YOU COULD VISIT AT 4:30 IN THE MORNING.' ADAPTING THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF FORMAL STATUARY, LIKE THE NEARBY MONUMENTS TO GANDHI, LINCOLN AND WASHINGTON, THE SEVEN FOOT TALL FIGURE STANDS ATOP A CONCRETE PEDESTAL, ITS CHROMED SURFACE REFLECTING THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE WARHOL WORKED FOR MUCH OF HIS LIFE: MAX's KANSAS CITY, A FAVORITE WARHOL HANGOUT, ONCE STOOD NEARBY, INTERVIEW MAGAZINE WAS LAUNCHED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND VALERIE SOLANAS ATTEMPTED HER ASSASSINATION OF WARHOL HERE.