Thomas J Price and his lovely-looking black woman in Times Square

The City of New York, through the Times Square Alliance, regularly presents contemporary artists an opportunity to present their work. This 12 foot tall sculpture by the British artist Thomas J. Price was recently installed in April and will remain till June 17th.

These photos are from the NYT and for further info one might go directly to they story printed March 18th 2025.

I haven't seen a photo of Thomas J Price but I would eat my hat if he weren't a black artist. His premise is certainly a contemporary one and is that we are not used to seeing black figures of historical consequence exhibited in public spaces. it's that simple, and he's right. 

As Art now generally does, it asks us, the public, to engage with it. It wants and needs a response. This is the essence of Contemporary Art since Surrealism back in France in the fist half of the 20th century when a page of history was turned, and a new chapter of interactive Art was born. 

That said, this 12 foot sculpture of an Afro-American woman standing the middle of Times Square has drawn fierce blowback from the American Right Wing.  

An outspoken Fox television personality, a perfidious  creature whose name I won't mention, said of it; “If you work hard you can be overweight and anonymous?” “It’s a D.E.I. statue.”

The Federalist, an ultra-conservative political organisation also described the work as “leftist cultural warfare.”

But equally, there are also admirers of the piece. (from NYT) 

"Elma Blint, a jewelry designer from Brooklyn, who visited the work on Friday, offered an opposing view, saying the figure looked like every Black woman in my family” and suggesting its detractors were uncomfortable with the idea of a Black woman taking up space."

Another woman pointed out that the arts have been progressively fazed out of curriculums in both in High School and in Universities, so because of this, young people don't really know how to look at art these days. Fair point.

But for me, I really like it, and I find it an extremely moving sculpture. For me, her expression seems to convey a sense of quiet discretion, perhaps due to an old fearful feeling of speaking out. I think it even speaks for all of us in America at this moment when racism has erupted like a volcano from old violent fractures embedded deeply with our country. 

That this sculpture has created so much animosity among so many should be a surprise to anybody. Would be easy to point fingers. I cannot even blame Trump either because he is but fissure that was opened up by this giant already damaged landscape. In this small space, I will give the last word to an Atlanta-based TK Smith.

“He definitely struck a vein,...we are dealing with wounds that are not healed. And we can’t heal them if they’re not spoken about.” 

Just last year in Times Square another pair of artists presented a giant hotdog as a work of art which spewed confetti out one end. It was a big hit and very popular with the public. This makes me wonder if we Americans haven't just turned into cultural idiots that prefer Wrestling to Art?