Best of 2014: Danh Vo's "We the People"

Danh Vo, "We the People""

Last Spring, as Brooklyn Bridge Park continued to round into shape, a series of seemingly unfinished sculptures arose to complement the unfinished park. In fact, the enormous copper fragments are the artist Danh Vo's full-scale re-creation of 13 pieces of the Statue of Liberty's right sleeve. Situated on the incomplete Pier 3 upland portion of the park, Vo's creations are juxtaposed against views of the original, visible in the distance across the water. Examined up close, the new pieces bare all, affording visitors a look at the interior scaffolding and the unpolished copper within, as well as the rivets employed to hold the surface together.

Vo began the project--entitled "We the People"--in 2010, tasking a Shanghai fabricator to faithfully reproduce the original Lady Liberty in 250 distinct parts. Thanks to the Public Art Fund, about 20% of the project is on display through tomorrow (12/5), split between Brooklyn Bridge Park and City Hall. The remaining sections are scattered among public and private venues in more than 15 countries. It is Vo's intent that the disparate parts never be combined into a unified replica of the statue. Rather, they should be considered as individual elements in distinct contexts. Scroll down for a few more views of the pieces currently situated at Brooklyn Bridge Park.