The Unbearable Banishment: Rub vigorously for good luck

Friday, December 10, 2010

Rub vigorously for good luck

The Time Warner Center is a huge shopping/ residential/ hotel/ entertainment complex located at the southwest corner of Central Park in Columbus Circle. It's where Midtown ends and the Upper West Side begins. Think of a shopping mall just steps away from Central Park. There's a Whole Foods inside.

It houses one of my favorite public artworks. On the main floor are two 12 foot statues of Adam and Eve by artist Fernando Botero. They're big, smooth, bulbous black monoliths.

Here's Eve. She has a very maternal look.


Here's Adam. He has a special interactive feature that I'm certain Botero and the property managers of the Time Warner Center never counted on. It seems that the thousands and thousands of tourists who stream through the center have decided that rubbing his uncircumcised penis is good luck. So many people have done it, that the patina glaze is rubbed off and the underlying gold is exposed.

Clickable. If you must.

People are constantly having their photos taken while yanking Adam's flaccid anteater. There's an art dealer who occasionally applies a touch-up, but it never lasts. Do you know what I love most? Management approves! They have no intention of removing Adam. It has become a destination when visiting the city. America is such a puritanical country that I thought the reaction would be the opposite.

I'll bet you won't find that in the guidebooks. Snap.

14 Comments:

Blogger savannah said...

too funny! i saw an exhibit of his work at the musée maillol in paris a few years ago. the exhibit poster (which was plastered all over the city and metro) hangs in the guest bathroom: a dancing woman with the most magnificent thighs! xoxoxo

December 10, 2010 at 9:21 PM  
Blogger mapstew said...

Cool!

If they ever have to remove Adam for a 'touch-up' I wouldn't mind standing in! :¬)

Have a good weekend my friend!

December 10, 2010 at 9:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, it's on my list!

December 10, 2010 at 10:03 PM  
Anonymous daisyfae said...

lovely that management had the fore.....sight to leave Adam's giblets accesible!

December 10, 2010 at 10:32 PM  
Blogger Ponita in Real Life said...

Next time you pass by Adam, could give him a rub for luck for me? Seems LHB and I are in need of some...

December 11, 2010 at 1:37 AM  
Anonymous nursemyra said...

I don't really like them. Are they better when you see them in person?

December 11, 2010 at 2:59 AM  
Blogger Ms Scarlet said...

Poor Eve, doesn't she ever get the odd pat on the rump?
Sx

December 11, 2010 at 4:55 AM  
Blogger The Unbearable Banishment said...

Sav: All of his women have robust figures. It reminds me of R. Crumb's work. They both like their women thick.

Map: Now, why didn't I think of that? I could have said it was for art's sake.

MIT: When are you due out here, anyway?

Daisy: Giblets = lol! That's a new (and appropriate) one.

Ponita: I will find another way to convey luck onto you and LHB, if you don't mind.

Nurse: I like them. They look pretty grand in person. My crappy photo skills did them no favors.

SB: I tried to cop a feel from Eve but I wasn't tall enough.

December 11, 2010 at 7:59 AM  
Blogger Sausage said...

I wonder if my wife would fall for the "Rub it for good luck routine"
I will ne in NYC this Christmas, we are doing the usual touristy stuff with the boys, any suggestions for other sights to see.
Thanks, Sausage

December 11, 2010 at 2:37 PM  
Anonymous 25BAR said...

Merry Christmas!

December 11, 2010 at 11:55 PM  
Blogger Ellie said...

That is brilliant ... and, yes, a refreshing, unexpected reaction!

December 12, 2010 at 7:29 AM  
Blogger The Unbearable Banishment said...

SF: You can't go wrong with the touristy things. I do them myself! There's lots to see in the Times Square/Rockefeller Center area. If you're going to ice skate, go to Bryant Park. The rink at 30 Rock is small and crowded. PRAY for good weather.

25Bar: Thank you. An unlikely place to receive such a Christian greeting!

Ellie: I would have expected the nation to flip out and demand its removal. Not so.

December 12, 2010 at 9:41 AM  
Blogger Pat said...

Legs like tree trunks and a bit stumpy. Still nobody's perfect;)

December 12, 2010 at 12:34 PM  
Anonymous Sid said...

I don't like the Eve statue. She's fat ...

December 13, 2010 at 3:48 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home