YO, Manhattan: OY!

Brooklyn Bridge Park Art Oy Yo
Brooklyn Bridge Park has two messages for New Yorkers: OY! YO!

In eight-foot-heigh yellow aluminum letters, Dumbo now silently calls out across the East River a message at once Yiddish, Spanish and loud — and thus inherently Brooklyn.

Commissioned by Two Trees, Dumbo’s new sculpture will be on view at the just-renovated (but still roped-off) Main Street lawn through August 2016.

Created by Brooklyn-based artist Deborah Kass, the OY/YO sculpture is “sourced from urban and Brooklyn slang, the statement ‘I am’ in Spanish, and the popular Yiddish expression, as a riff on Ruscha’s iconic word paintings,” according to the Two Trees press release.

Inspired by Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock, Kass walks “the line between respectful homage and brazen appropriation” with her work, often incorporating feminist elements to her pieces.

OY/YO by Deborak Kass in Brooklyn Bridge Park

OY/YO by Deborak Kass in Brooklyn Bridge Park

[Top photo: Hannah Frishberg; other photos: Etienne Frossard]

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One Comment

  • Very likely the worst piece of sculpture I’ve ever seen, and I lived walking distance from the Rocky statue in front of the Philly Art Museum for several years.