I just saw "Echo" today and also loved it--and also felt it looked 2 dimensional. You can't get close enough to see--I wonder if the chin and ears are in fact sculpted, but the face is some sort of photo or painting affixed to the front of the flat surface. Would love to know if anyone knows how it was made. And what a pity that it's only here for a short visit, instead of becoming a resident of the city and the park!

P.S. to my 8:40 p.m. comment above --

Please forgive the typos (e.g., "it's" instead of "its," etc.), of course, but also wanted to mention that the recent "sculpture" of hanging lights that formed a picture of moving people was also pretty "neat."

So it seems to me that the public art program in Madison Square Park is really on a roll!

Benjamin Hemric
May 11, 2011, 9:00 p.m.

Although I am oftentimes unimpressed by contemporary public art, I've been captivated by this sculpture since the moment I first saw it while it was still underconstruction. I've looked it up on the internet a few times to learn more about it -- which is how I happened upon this site and your interesting article.

Part of it's appeal to me (aside from the fact that it's elegant and beautiful to begin with) may be related to what others are calling its "unrealness" -- although I've been thinking along slightly differently lines. What struck me from the first was that it seems hard to tell if this "structure" is three-dimentional or not. It almost looks like it could be a large, flat billboard that has been "papered over" with a photograph of a woman's face. And even as you walk around it, it still seems "flat." So the apparent lack of a three-dimensional quality in a very large three-dimensional object is quite startling -- and tantalizing -- especially since sculpture is "supposed" (according to art theory 101) to be three-dimensional and not flat like a painting or mural.

I'd like to learn more about this sculpture, and whether this flatness (or "unreality") is part of what the artist was getting at (here, or in any of his other works) or just a happy accident with this sculpture.

Another "fun" aspect of this flatness, at least for me, is its location in Madison Square Park -- where the most famous building located on the park, the "Flatiron Building" is one that is also happens to be famous for being surreally "flat." Again, I wonder how much of this was intentional, and how much a happy accident?

Also, nice to hear that others sense that this is an unusally popular sculpture. I was tempted to ask some park personnel about this, but chickened out. As far as sculptures go, it seems to me that this is a "blockbuster hit."

Benjamin Hemric
Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 8:40 p.m.

why called Echo?