One of the big reasons I love NYC: The city sees the value of spending money on public art and landscaping.

These showed up yesterday in Madison Square Park. They are made out of painted, knotted rope. Very cool and something I could imagine myself designing if I had thousands of yard of rope laying around. I prefer public art to art in museum for many reasons.

1.       The looks on people’s faces as they walk by. Mostly disgust honestly. Sometimes glee as they take out their camera phones and pose in front of it. Art loses its pretentious-ness when average people can respond to it honestly without knowing they spent $25 in museum entrance fees to see it.

2.       The ability to touch/photograph/let your dog pee on it and not get yelled at by eager docents. I got yelled at twice at the Guggenheim the other day. It hurts my feelings.

3.       How it transforms a mundane experience into something novel. Lets you see your surroundings in a way you haven’t.

So that’s my two cents on the matter. I’m lucky to live in a place with money to put into their parks and even more lucky to have a job right across the street from such a beautiful place.