NYC Arts: The Complete Guide to Art and Culture

Since 1998, the glass-enclosed lobby of the Lever House has been the location for numerous contemporary art exhibitions. The landmark modern building, designed by Gordon Bunshaft and completed in 1952, offers a clean, pristine and highly visible space for the presentation of art.   
   
The first few exhibitions at Lever House were temporary loan shows, borrowed directly from artists and galleries, including Alexander Calder, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Stephan Balkenhol and Isamu Noguchi (who designed an unrealized sculpture garden for the original plan, and also designed the marble seating now in place on the plaza).   
   
The Lever House Art Collection was formed in 2003 by inviting artists to create artworks specifically for the building lobby which would be on extended view for approximately three months, and then purchased for the collection.    
   
The first commission was a neon installation by Keith Sonnier that delineated and illuminated the geometric architecture of the lobby. Subsequent commissions included ambitious works by Jorge Pardo, John Chamberlain, Damien Hirst's Virgin Mother, Peter Wegner, Barnaby Furnas, Jeff Koons, E.V. Day, Sarah Morris, Folkert de Jong, Enoc Perez, Tom Friedman, Damien Hirst's School, Richard Dupont, Tom Sachs (with a 22-foot tall HELLO KITTY on the plaza) and Liza Lou in September 2008.
   
The goal of the Lever House Art Collection is to form an exciting and impressive collection of art created in the early 21st century, and to recognize outstanding artists of aesthetic significance. An international museum tour of the collection, accompanied by a major publication, is in the works.