9/11 MEMORIAL SCULPTURE COMMEMORATING 10th ANNIVERSARY TO BE
INSTALLED AT FINN SQUARE IN TRIBECA

On May 4, 2011, sculptor Bill Barrett will install a bronze sculpture in Tribeca’s Finn Square Park. The sculpture, titled “911” (from the Lexeme Series), will stand as a memorial to September 11, 2001, for a period of six months. It will be situated at the south end of Finn Square, between the New York Law School and the Square Diner, where Varick Street, West Broadway, and Leonard Street come together. “911” is 11 feet tall (with steel base), 6 feet 6 inches wide, and 5 feet deep. The City of New York, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Community Board 1, and Friends of Finn Square have all approved the sculpture’s placement. Funding is being generously provided for by Newmark Knight Frank and the Gural Family, and by Kouros Gallery.

Meant to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Barrett hopes his sculpture will fill in some of the loss and empty space created when the Twin Towers fell. The Lexeme Series began as a way for Barrett to process and talk about the heartbreaking events of September 11, 2001. It includes works in fabricated bronze, stainless steel and fabricated bronze, and an 11-foot-high Carrara marble piece that was carved in Carrara, Italy, and shown in Zell, Germany. In their own unique way, all of the Lexeme sculptures incorporate the presence of the World Trade Center. “911” is composed of two massive, geometric shapes that rise upwards, suggesting the dominant presence of the Twin Towers. Organic forms surround these tall pillars, flowing over and around them, generating a sense of energy and life. With this particular sculpture, Barrett aims to present the idea that life, and positive and creative energy continue to prevail. Barbara Fultz, one of the Directors of Friends of Finn Square, recently wrote about the sculpture’s ability to fill some of the loss: “…I felt that the sculpture echoing and creating an abstraction of the visual forms of what we saw on 9/11 is regenerative, one of art’s gifts — memories we can bear to live with.”

Barrett has been a member of the Tribeca community for over 40 years. His studio is just around the corner from the installation site. Barrett has displayed sculptures at Finn Square in the past, and they have all been greatly enjoyed by the surrounding community.