Delayed by trans-oceanic supply-chain congestion, on Monday, August 2, 2021, the Broadway Mall Association will launch Broadway Blooms: Jon Isherwood on Broadway, a sculpture exhibition at eight locations on the green malls at the center of Broadway from 64th Street to 157th Street. The exhibition, organized in partnership with NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program and Morrison Gallery in Kent, CT, and with the assistance of the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District, is the 13th sculpture show presented by the Broadway Mall Association since 2005. 

Jon Isherwood’s marble sculptures were created for exhibition on the malls in 2020. For more than one year the Covid pandemic delayed their transport from Isherwood’s studio in Italy. The delayed “bloom” of the eight marble sculptures in the form of flowers celebrates the return to life of the city after a long and difficult winter and spring. 

The sculpture locations are: Bloom 1 “The Earth Laughs,” Broadway & 64th Street (Dante Park); Bloom 2 “A Gift between Two,” Broadway & 72nd Street; Bloom 3 “Live in the Sunshine,” Broadway & 79th Street; Bloom 4 “Given and Received,” Broadway & 96th Street; Bloom 5 “A Chance’s Wish,” Broadway & 103rd Street; Bloom 6 “As Always Yours,” Broadway & 117th Street; Bloom 7 “After Giverny,” Broadway & 148th Street; Bloom 8 “The Gifting Angel,” Broadway & 157th Street (Ilka Tanya Payán Park). A full exhibition checklist is attached. 

Artist’s Statement 

“Why do we give flowers? The act can convey love, celebrate accomplishments, offer comfort in grief, repay hospitality, or simply beautify a space and bring personal joy. Beyond their universal appeal, flowers carry diverse cultural meanings: from the imbued spiritual symbolism of the lotus flower, to the holiday tradition of poinsettias, and the association of roses with love. Across time and space, flowers reflect one’s connection to community and to one another. Nature gifts us flowers, a spontaneous eruption of beauty that brings joy and wonder, and in return we offer them to one another. 

“It is in this spirit that I offer the city Broadway Blooms, a series of eight marble sculptures in the form of flowers. Carved in Bardiglio Imperiale, Calacatta Gold, Verde Rameggiato, Fantastico Arni, Rosso Cardinale, Breccia Viola, and Rosa Portogallo marble, the blooms will be installed for a nine-month period in New York City at eight major intersections along Broadway starting at 64th Street (Dante Park/Lincoln Center), then 72nd, 79th, 96th, 103rd, 117th, 148th, ending at 157th Street. 

“I chose blooms for Broadway in part because imagery is accessible to the many people that navigate these intersections in their daily lives. They are imbued with a universal symbolism, and can create wonder and joy in their discovery. Placing them in a series of locations across neighborhoods, I hope to promote a sense of interconnectedness in a space that can otherwise feel impersonal, anonymous, and alienating. The natural forms offer visual and psychological relief from the roads, traffic, and architecture in which they are situated – sites of beauty and respite from the built environment. 

“Broadway Blooms represents the next development of my ongoing artistic dialogue with form, technology, and the associative sensations of imagery and shape. In my work, forms are compressed, distorted, or squeezed and made more intimate by subtle adjustments of scale. Carved lines contour the surface to emphasize the forms’ growth, create the illusion of expansiveness and provoke associations of patterning, layering and veiled imagery. 

“Flowers fascinate us in part because of their delicacy and ephemerality; by transposing their fragile forms into marble, the oldest and most durable of sculptural materials, I hope to inspire viewers to pause and wonder at the productive tension generated by the delicate form and impermeable material. Like real flowers, my installation on Broadway will be ephemeral, but I hope that my artistic offering to the city will be remembered long after the sculptures themselves have moved on.” 

About Jon Isherwood 

Jon Isherwood’s work has been widely exhibited in public museums and private galleries in the U.S., Canada, Europe and China. He is the recipient of a Jerome Foundation Fellowship, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation award and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of New York at Plattsburgh. His sculpture has recently been exhibited at Villa Strozzi, Florence, Italy; The National Archaeological Museum, Florence, Italy; Ping Yao II, China; The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; and Belgrave Square, London, U.K. 

Isherwood has had over 25 solo exhibitions, including Reeves Contemporary in NYC; John Davis Gallery in NYC; The C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore; Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum in Hamilton, OH. He has been featured in many group exhibitions, including the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy; The McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX; The Derby City Museum, Derby, U.K.; and Kunsthalle, Manheim, Germany. His work can be found in more than 25 public collections. 

Isherwood has completed over 30 commissions in the private and public sector including commissions for New Jersey Public Art; Capital One Investments, USA; the U.S. State Department Art in Embassies Program for the new embassy in Oslo, Norway; The Peninsula Hotel, Beijing, China; Public Art San Antonio; Fidelity Investment U.K.; BCA, St Paul, MN; and the Woodner Memorial sculpture at the Evening Star building, Washington, D.C. Isherwood’s work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art in America, ArtNews, The Washington Post, The New York Sun, Sculpture Magazine, Partisan Review, The Philadelphia Enquirer, The London Times and The Guardian, U.K. He has made personal appearances on shows featuring his work, including WAMC Public Radio and The Culture Show, BBC Television, U.K. He has lectured at numerous colleges and universities in the U.S., Europe and China and is the President of the Digital Stone Project. 

About the Broadway Mall Association 

The Broadway Mall Association (BMA) is a nonprofit that stewards, advocates, and cares for the 5-mile environmental resource in the heart of upper Manhattan. The 83 verdant malls from 70th Street to 168th Street stretch from the Upper West Side through Harlem to Washington Heights. In addition to upgrading the 10.6 acres of malls along Broadway, BMA installs winter lighting and stages world class public art exhibitions that reflect the distinct, diverse communities of the area and engage both residents and visitors alike. For more information, visit broadwaymall.org. 

About Art on the Malls 

Art on the Malls, the Broadway Mall Association's program to enliven the Broadway malls with contemporary art, was launched in 2005 with the major exhibition Tom Otterness on Broadway. Since then, BMA has exhibited the work of more than 20 internationally recognized artists on the malls, including Carole Eisner, Manolo Valdés, Peter Woytuk, Saint Clair Cemin, Dan Colen, Don Gummer, Joy Brown, Kathy Ruttenberg, Nicolas Holiber and, now, Jon Isherwood. For more information, visit broadwaymall.org/public art. 

About NYC Parks Art in the Parks 

For more than 50 years, NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program has brought contemporary public artworks to the city’s parks, making New York City one of the world’s largest open-air galleries. The agency has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, NYC Parks has collaborated with arts organizations and artists to produce more than 2,000 public artworks by 1,300 notable and emerging artists in more than 200 parks. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/parks/art. 

About Morrison Gallery 

The Morrison Gallery is the linchpin of Litchfield County’s art scene. In recent years, the impact of the gallery has expanded internationally from Kent, Connecticut, to New York City, to Shanghai and points beyond. Now, a major new gallery space and innovative art storage operation in Kent is furthering its impact. The gallery features a wide range of artists, spanning the creativity of modern and contemporary art eras. The gallery’s guiding concept is bringing the collective creativity of global artists into a modern space that inspires and invites sharing.