Art in Battery Park

My favorite exhibit at Battery Park is the art-installation “Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet” that includes 12 globes, each five feet in diameter. Cool Globes Inc. sponsors this exhibition. In 2007, Wendy Abrams, a Chicago environmentalist founded the exhibit. The exhibition raises awareness for the problem of climate change. The message of this exhibit caters to young adults and over.  Through this installation, in unique and artful ways, artists present solutions to climate change with intricately decorated globes.

One of my favorite globes is the turquoise one with the spikes. I value it not only as a piece about our ecosystem, but also as a work of art. The artist uses a beautiful palette to make the globe. Though the majority of the globe is turquoise, in the right corner, a part of it is red, possibly indicating that some of the world is overheating. In this way, this globe as well as the other ones in this exhibit, is stressing that voyeurs of this display take action against global warming.

The globe with red water and green land also has an artistic appeal. The use of letters and numbers causes viewers to think and question the significance of the design. My interpretation is that the numbers are degrees in Celsius and signify the dangers of climate change. The letters seem to say “look,” emphasizing that people realize the threat of global warming. Artistically, the globe, how the artist blended the colors and designed the letters, attracts my eye. An interesting fact about this globe, made by artist Ellen Gradman, is that it is constructed out of 100 pounds of junk mail. The title of this globe is "Stop Unsolicited Mail." 

The globe I find least attractive is the metallic blue one with countries on the left colored in red, white, and blue. Unlike the other globes in the exhibition, this one is the most simplistic and least complex because of its almost exact reproduction of the actual globe. Other globes have more imaginative images and structures.  However, most of the globes are intricate and have a meaningful message.