Staten Island #3
Siah Armajani Iranian
Not on view
In 1996, Armajani completed a public artwork for the New York Department of Transportation for the waterside area near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in St. George. Consisting of an orange metal bridge, stairs, a viewing platform, and an open lighthouse-like tower structure, Lighthouse and Bridge on Staten Island provided the public with an intellectually provocative space to contemplate the water. It also layered many references to the history of that waterfront: seafaring in New York harbor, passages over the water, and an echo of the beacon-like flame held by the Statue of Liberty, for example. The present drawing directly relates to this commission, depicting the form of the sculpture in a mode that both mimics the architectural axonometric view (one used for presentation or for building plans) with the jewel-like miniature traditions of Armajani's native Iran.