Tom Fruin’s Water Tower

07Jul12

I first spotted this magnificent water tower on Design Sponge and had to learn more. From artist Tom Fruin’s website…”Situated on the rooftop of 20 Jay Street the sculpture is viewable from the parks and streets of Dumbo, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, FDR Drive and Lower Manhattan. The prime viewing locations are the Brooklyn Bridge Park at Washington Street, and the Manhattan Bridge bike path.”  

More information on the work is below, also from the website. Also for non-New Yorkers Dumbo is an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.   pb

“Tom Fruin Studio is pleased to present Watertower, a new sculptural artwork by Brooklyn artist Tom Fruin. For the US premiere of his internationally recognized Icon series, Fruin has created a monumental water tower sculpture in colorful salvaged plexiglas and steel. Watertower is mounted high upon a water tower platform becoming part of the DUMBO, Brooklyn skyline. This project is the fourth work in the plexiglas and steel patchwork Icon series which features scavenged, reclaimed, and recycled materials constructed into sculptural tributes to architectural icons around the world, from the obelisco of Buenos Aires, to the kolonihavehuse of Copenhagen. The series can be seen as a three-dimensional evolution of Fruin’s found drug-bag quilts and flags for which he is well known.

Fruin, who often works with reclaimed and discarded materials, has composed Watertower from roughly one thousand scraps of plexiglas. It includes such details as interior and exterior access ladders and an operable roof hatch. The locally-sourced plexi came from all over New York City—from the floors of Chinatown sign shops, to the closed DUMBO studio of artist Dennis Oppenheim, to Astoria’s demolition salvage warehouse Build It Green!NYC.

Illuminated by the sun during the day and by Ardunio-controlled light sequences designed by Ryan Holsopple at night, this beacon of light is a tribute to the iconic New York water tower and a symbol of the vibrancy of Brooklyn. Watertower opened June 7th, with daily light shows beginning at dusk and continuing to morning. 

Tom Fruin (b. 1974) works in Brooklyn, NY. His work is a part of many international museums and collections, most notably The Hanck Collection at the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, Germany; the Richard J. Massey Foundation for Arts and Sciences in New York, NY; and the Buenos Aires Design Center (Centro Metropolitano de Diseño) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fruin’s most recent contribution to public art in New York City is the 50 foot tall neon sculpture HOTEL on the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

This public sculpture is supported in part through a Brooklyn Arts Council Community Arts Grant, a Build It Green materials grant, and The Richard J. Massey Foundation for Arts and Sciences. Additional technical support provided by Nick Liberis at Platform4 Collaborative Design; J. D. Messick; and Two Trees Management Co.”

Watertower, 2012
found plexiglas, steel, bolts
20 x 10 x 10 feet

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