Does Public Art Have an Afterlife?

But even with a gallery in the artist’s corner, engaging with the public art system can become prohibitively expensive. In 2020, Sam Moyer created sculptures for the Public Art Fund that honored the nonprofit’s founder, Doris C. Freedman. The artist embedded slabs of imported marble into concrete to create monumental doors, just slightly ajar so that viewers could walk through them. She estimated that she and her gallerist, Sean Kelly, paid nearly $200,000 to produce “Doors for Doris,” while the Public Art Fund provided a $10,000 artist fee.

“When a new work may have a life after the exhibition, the artist’s gallery will often contribute to direct fabrication costs, which would otherwise need to be reimbursed to P.A.F. in the event of a sale,” said Allegra Thoresen, a Public Art Fund spokeswoman.

Moyer had arranged for the sculpture to travel to Philadelphia for another exhibition, but the agreement fell through during the de-installation in New York, leaving her with 90,000 pounds of sculpture spread across six flatbed trucks.

“It was a nightmare scenario,” Moyer said. “Without gallery representation, it would have resulted in me having to destroy the piece.”

Instead, she and her dealer made an agreement with the shipping company to store the sculptures at its facilities in the Bronx until another cultural institution agreed to acquire them. They remain there.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/arts/design/public-art-afterlife.html