public art sculpture; Bella Abzug Park, Hudson Yards, Manhattan; summer-fall 2025
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¼ wo/man: Love - ego = LOV Couple
Public art sculpture by Pasha Radetzki to be exhibited in Bella Abzug Park, Hudson Yards, Manhattan in the summer-fall 2025.
The LOV Couple sculpture is awarded the Creative Engagement Grant by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and supported by:
the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
the New York State Council on the Arts
the Howard Gilman Foundation
the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone.
It is fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation For the Arts (
nyfa.org) with additional support from ArtMax, Andrew Logan Projects, lov.foundation & radetzki studiO
Description.
The ¼ wo/man (aka LOV Couple) is a monument to human joy and sorrow.
Conceived as a public art sculptural composition, it features two large-scale altered human figures interconnected by an elevated garden, each figure missing the ¼ part of their upper torso.
Standing several feet apart, one in front of the other, the figures’ carved out torsos allude to the wounds of humanity incurred due to unending military conflicts, gun violence and in particular to the ¼ population loss in my native Paless’e (on Belarus-Ukraine border) during World War II. The ¼ voids also refer to my grandfather’s shoulder wound when he was hit by the bullet in the same war.
The sculpture’s gardens convey human aspirations towards harmonious community living conjunct with the sense of ecological and social urgency.
They represent the seeds of new life emerging from the common sorrow that we often carry with us unknowingly. It optimistically signifies the human vitality, perseverance and joy of realizing that we are capable of growing and living together in peace and unity as individuals, species, nations and communities.
The maquettes illustrate how the finished work can look like, with minor adjustments.
Both maquettes will be 3D scanned, then the internal support structure will be milled from styrofoam with addition of inner metal armature for strength and anchoring.
The horizontal planes of the cutout torsos will serve as planters filled with soil and growing plants.
The works surfaces will be finished with layers of fiberglass and painted. Visually, each figure will carry the abstracted feminine and masculine characteristics representing friends, partners, families, humanity.
The sculpture will be prefabricated off site and can be installed on site in mid-June 2025.
In my initial proposal to LMCC, I suggested the site in my neighborhood, in Bella Abzug Park in Manhattan, on Hudson Boulevard between W 34/W 35 streets, but multiple other sites are also of interest.
Each figure's dimensions are: H 8’ x W 3’ x L 3.’ The approximate dimensions of the installation site are: H: 8’x W: 9’x L: 9.’
I hope the LOV Couple - ¼ wo/man sculpture will create a compelling visual metaphor expressing the ideals of undivided love, peace, unity, regeneration and interdependence of all human lives and nature.
Exhibited in the context of current volatile socio-ecological conditions, the work aims to serve the public as a symbol of an elevated foundation from which we can grow and flourish as an integrated human community.
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Public art sculpture in Union Square Park in Manhattan by Pasha Radetzki studiO
May 5 - November 5, 2024
'This work you are doing is really important in this moment of human condition.' Marina Abramović
‘Innovative, successful public exhibition, an asset to Art In The Parks program’ | NYC Parks
'a multimedia artist extraordinaire.' Raul Zamudio
'He makes hope visible' | Village Voice'Best outdoor art in NYC' | TimeOut New York
‘We love LOV… selected as the first public artwork to be displayed in Union Square’s center lawn' |Union Square Partnership
'All you need is L-O-V.' | New York Post
This new interactive sculpture in Union Square wants you to be part of it. | TimeOut New York
New Sculpture in Union Square promotes unity provides venue for public art. | 1010 WINS New York Radio
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is an interactive public art site created in partnership with NYC Parks and Union Square Partnership by Pasha Radetzki studiO.
Composed of LOV Sculpture, 3 Sisters-Americas Garden and Unity On Union Square performance series, the work articulates the notions of attainable freedom, unity and interdependence of human lives and nature.
Special thanks to our partners:
New York City Parks
Union Square Partnership
The New York Foundation For The Arts (NYFA)
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)
ArtMax & Andrew Logan Projects
lov.foundation
ArtYard LLC
radetzki_studiO
LOV Works Art Initiative this project is supported by The New York Foundation For The Arts' fiscal sponsorship. HEREA select group of artworks is available for sale HERE to support our public work.
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Inspired by the principles of reciprocity and elemental math equations, the Love-ego=LOV Sculpture Garden features a free-standing sculptural composition in Union Square Park which depicts a newly created word - LOV - a neologism with its specific meaning of egoless love and pronunciation, /lov/. The audience is invited to enact the eclipsed letter E, representing one’s self or ego, by striking ‘the letter E pose’ to the right of the sculpture to interplay the words LOV and ‘Love’.
3 Sisters-Americas garden is built-in into its structure featuring the plants native to the Americas. The title refers to the notion of ‘Abya Yala,’ a unified vitality continent in Kuna people's language.
The site is activated by Unity On Union Square performance series titled: Peace In All Languages, SunCultures Naturality, Huewomanity Founding Mothers and LOV In All Colors. The works experiment with conceiving of the new modes for community living, governing and human interrelations as well as build peacemaking narratives in public spaces.
Additional press:
Union Square debuts public art program with sculpture from Manhattan-based artist Pasha Radetzki |amNewYork
Why Union Square Park's LOV installation, has an ‘E' missing, explained | Times Now NewsArtist Pasha Radetzki: Love-ego=LOV | Christina Holmes PhotographyPasha RAdetzki creates the Love-ego=LOV in New York | Trend HunterNew ‘Love' sculpture in NYC is spelled without the ‘E' | Design TaxiMake Music New York Day in Union Square | amNewYorkWe accept commissions for sculpture (outdoor, garden, small scale), paintings, drawings and performances at: pashara[at]gmail[dot]com
You can also take a look at our awards-winning outdoor sculptures accomplished in Brazil > here
Sign up to our emails at pashara[at]gmail[dot]com or social media @ra_detzki and @LOVsculpture
Our special thanks to: NYC Parks & Elizabeth Masella, Union Square Partnership team, New York Foundation for the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Proyectos Raul Zamudio, family, Lilianka, Annie Murdock, Tom Soper, Alexandra Seaman, Lisa, Annie Yuan Zhang, Ignatius Chithelen, David Frackman, Kirsten Cole, Cristina Holmes, Yuko Arakawa, Amit Sahu, Orlando & Shirly Palacios, Caterina Verde & Peat and Repeat, Eva Conant, Ezra Wube, Kevin Nathaniel, Salieu Suso, Famoro Dioubate, Saco Myoji, Ishkara, Charlotte Douglass, Sylvain Leroux, Fernando Colón-González, Russo.
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Solo exhibition by pasha radetzki
Andrew Logan Projects
January 29 - March 15, 2025; opening: Saturday February 1, 6-8pm
384 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn, NY; Thursday - Sunday 2pm-8pm
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Building upon the recent public art LOV Sculpture installation in Union Square Park in Manhattan, the exhibition examines what it means to love in current times of socio-ecological degradation.
Part of Love-ego=LOV work series, the exhibition spans architectural-sculptural installation, drawing, painting and performance to forefront the notions of attainable freedom, innate human knowledge and diverse social and spiritual reclamation from the mono-cultural worldview of the current status quo. The works also address the reconstruction processes in the world's post war-torn territories and the areas of ecological distress.
Performance: Peace Coconut. Social Cesspool Unrule. Date tba @ra_detzki
Exhibition support - Andrew Logan Projects, ArtMax, lov.foundation & radetzki studiO, New York Foundation For The Arts (nyfa.org),
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC).
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July 24th - August 18th, 2024; 78 Jane St., Manhattan; open Friday-Sunday, 12-6 pm
Opening: July 24th, 6-9 pm; performance: August 16, 7pm
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'a multimedia artist extraordinaire. the work beautifully harmonizes yet stands out against the park's flora and fauna; unbeknownst to the City of NY, it has become a kind of late night mecca for people..' Raul Zamudio
Solo exhibition by Pasha Radetzki of rarely exhibited maquettes, videos and works on paper related to his public art practice and LOV Sculpture currently on view in Union Square Park in Manhattan.
The exhibition traces the artist’s far-ranging works from early urban art interventions to the unique field artworks in ecologically significant remote locations, to the public art site in the heart of Manhattan.
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Public art performance with live sound and temporary installation
Federal Plaza and Union Square Park in Manhattan; October 2023
Unity On Union Square: Love-e=LOV
Conceived by Pasha Radetzki, presented in collaboration with Amit Sahu
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Comprising original musical compositions, performance art and temporary sculptural installation, the Unity On Union Square live art presentations engage the public with the themes of peace, unity and urban and natural regeneration.
The Federal Plaza performances are conceived as the urban field artworks where the topics of local water source, peace and egoless LOV coalesce to reflect on the storied history of the Collect Pond, one of the city’s original fresh water sources, its decline and current conditions.
The Union Square Park’s performance is devised as a community celebration of the neighborhood and its vitality as the place where all people naturally come together. It juxtaposes the themes of social harmony and unending wars, which are often inflicted by monocultural/militant aspects of widely accepted patriarchal ideologies.
Unity On Union Square received a Creative Engagement Grant from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in 2023.
It is part of Radetzki's on-going public art initiative titled Love-ego=LOV.
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