Art

Alexander Calder’s Saurien

Sprawling its neon-orange legs across the street in midtown Manhattan, Alexander Calder’s outdoor sculpture Saurien marks the entrance to the IBM building and provides an eye-catching contrast to the glassy gray skyscraper.

Many Columbia students may not realize that the closest museum to Columbia’s campus is only a short walk away.

Some people find throwing paint-filled water balloons on giant swaths of canvas in the middle of College Walk to be cathartic.

Living in New York City, it’s hard not to come across the names of famous artists. Whether by some tourist on the subway raving about the Met or the pretentious kid down the hall dropping into conversation again that he is an art history major, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, or Pollock are bound to make appearances in conversation.

“April is the cruelest month,” said T.S. Eliot.

A vibrant and startling photograph of a skinned horse’s head, a large canvas depicting multiple Christs in soft pastel tones, and snapshots of moonlit, deserted playgrounds across the city are just a few of the images that have adorned the walls of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University.

I found myself fumbling for the light switch in a dark room in the basement of St. Paul’s Chapel.

Forget paintbrushes: Maria del Mar Granados is making her mark in the art world with comte bars, cloths, spatulas, and sponges. Columbia alumna Mar Granados was selected from droves of contemporary artists to show her work at the Armory Show on March 27-30, 2008.

When you think about the Bronx, what building comes to mind? Is it, perhaps, a poured concrete and Plexiglass stadium?

The god on the lawn in front of Lewisohn Hall is a drifter. Exactly 101 years ago, the Clark family (heirs to the Singer Sewing Company fortune) gave the three ton bronze The Great God Pan by American sculptor George Grey Barnard to Columbia.