Insurgent artist adds work in Battery Park
BY MARK HALLUM
Without permission from the
city, artist Joseph Reginella
recently placed a bronze
statue featuring three wolves attacking
a helpless New York City tourist in
Manhattan’s Battery Park.
Since he began putting up his sculptures
four years ago, Reginella has been
called “the Banksy of monuments” by
the New York Times. But it’s not just
art he creates, he goes the extra mile
by building a fake history behind each
piece.
This year, his historical fi ction takes
a page from an interview with former
Mayor Ed Koch, who joked once about
releasing wolves into train yards to discourage
vandalism of subway cars.
Building on this urban legend,
Reginella’s statue warns tourists to
avoid parks at night as the progeny of
Koch’s wolves still stalk for prey.
Each monument has required the
combined effort of around 7 to 10
people over the course of about 6 to
9 months. The cost of raw materials
comes out of pocket.
The fi rst statue appeared four years
ago.
It was of a giant squid engulfi ng
an entire ferry and paying homage to
a made up disaster. The idea came to
him on the spot while riding the ferry
with his nephew, who asked about sea
The three wolves statue placed by Joseph Reginella in Battery Park
City.
monsters.
“These sculptures, not even putting
the time and labor into it… is easily
about fi ve to six grand,” Reginella said.
“This is the fourth.”
Unoffi cially, Reginella has been
sculpting since the age of 14, but has
been a professional freelancer for scenery
companies since the 1990s and
even had his own toy company in which
he made fi gurines.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSEPH REGINELLA
It was not until his most recent exploits
in public art that he earned
the the New York Times appellation,
“the Banksy of monuments.”
Although the installations do not
come with the permission – or commission
– of the city, Reginella says
the government lets his work slide on
account of the fact that the statues do
not immediately stand out in style compared
to other park monuments.
Reginella creates a website for each
piece, but has recently created a onestop
shop for all his work.
He is not the fi rst and likely not the
last of his kind.
Sculptors have a history of statements
in New York City neighborhoods
before, with one notable park installation
at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long
Island City in 2016.
Artist Bryan Zanisnik used the park’s
open studio to place rows upon rows of
plaster cast busts of Christopher Walken,
who came up in the neighborhood.
In March 2017, the Fearless Girl statue
was commissioned by State Street
Global Advisors and made by artist
Kristen Visbal before being placed in
front of the Charging Bull statue in
Bowling Green. It proved controversial
to Trump supporters who dressed the
statue in Make America Great Again
apparel, as well as the Charging Bull
originator Di Modica, who claimed the
Fearless Girl distorted the message of
his work.
Public art commissioned by the city
is not immune from scrutiny.
In November 2016, The Sunbather
was installed on Jackson Avenue in
Long Island City and many people in
the community spoke out against the
blobby, lanky, humanoid fi gure as being
ugly. Calls for the city to give up
on the installation came long before the
pink statue could go up.
City reduces speed limit on West Side Highway
BY GABE HERMAN
A large stretch of the West Side
Highway is getting a lower
speed limit as part of an effort
to improve traffi c safety under the Vision
Zero program, offi cials announced
on Oct. 10.
Starting Oct. 12, the speed limit will
drop from 35 mph to 30 mph from Battery
Place up to 59th Street — an area
that has had 10 traffi c deaths since
2013.
Other changes include extending
walk times for pedestrians at several
crosswalks; adding curb extensions at
intersections to keep cars from turning
too close to sidewalks; adding rightturn
traffi c signals for cars; and installing
speed cameras. Most changes will
be implemented in the coming weeks
and done overnight to minimize traffi c
disruptions.
“With the growth of Hudson River
Park and the Greenway, the country’s
busiest bike path and … great gathering
places like Chelsea Piers, it is quite
clear that the old ‘West Side Highway’
is now more boulevard than highway
— and this new speed limit refl ects that
evolution,” said Department of Transportation
The West Side Highway near West 34th Street
Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.
A 2017 effort by local elected offi -
cials and community boards asked the
state’s DOT to study the road’s safety
from Lower Manhattan to Midtown.
The new traffi c changes from state
and city agencies are a response to that
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/ROGER ROWLETT
study that found that conditions could
be made safer, according to a spokesperson
for State Senator Brad Hoylman.
“I am thrilled that New York State
is responding to our calls for safety enhancements
by making crucial changes
to the street design and by working with
New York City to reduce the speed limit
on the West Side Highway,” Hoylman
said. “These enhancements will protect
New Yorkers from harm and create a
safer West Side Highway for pedestrians,
bicyclists and motorists.”
In lowering the speed limit, the state
DOT cited a nationwide study which
found that reduced speeds in cities can
signifi cantly lower pedestrian deaths
and injuries. The state agency has asked
the NYPD to increase enforcement of
traffi c violations along the road.
“The reduction of speed of the West
Side Highway by 5 mph to 30 mph may
not seem like a lot,” said Congressman
Jerrold Nadler, “but it cuts the chances
of pedestrians dying from being hit by a
vehicle in half. I applaud city and state
DOT for this action.
“We must make our streets safer for
pedestrians and reduce the tragic loss
of life that is too often the result of
dangerous driving,” Nadler continued.
“The West Side Highway is not some
interstate highway in a rural area, but
a boulevard street in Manhattan that is
adjacent to a park, pedestrian walkway
and bike path. This speed reduction
initiative will help to create a safer environment
for all New Yorkers.”
4 October 17, 2019 Schneps Media