Don't jump, naked man!

With public art displayed all over the City, there is no need to set foot in a museum. New Yorkers love their public art most especially on a lovely Spring day.

Stop, stare and gaze. Look up in the sky.
There are 31 naked men all over Madison Square Park in Lower Manhattan and 27 of them are perched on the ledge of rooftops! A conversation piece, to say the least, they compliment the architectural treasures found only in the Flatiron District. However, these men spark concern among many but the police have reassured viewers that the life-sized figures are not people contemplating suicide.

Nudity in the arts has never been a problem with most New Yorkers. No fig leaves are necessary. These pieces currently on display are not there for leisurely contemplation but as busy as the locals are rushing to work, some will pause in their tracks to take in these sculptures. Some will want to reach out for that no-longer-so-private part such as what happened to Botero's Adam and Eve on display at the Time Warner Center.

Some will want to tweak the discs on the chest and butt, the knobs that seem like electrodes ready for some connection in order to make the sculpture come alive. It's all part of an installation entitled Event Horizon the works of artist Antony Gormley. The exhibition first went on display in London in 2007 where a series of emergency calls where made to the police by concerned on-lookers. The life-sized pieces of iron and fiberglass are said to be body casts of Gormley.

He succeeded when he said he wants "to play with people's perception".

I saw it myself. A startled passer-by stopped and checked one of the sculptures up and down. I pointed out the rest of the naked men who looked like jumpers from the rooftops. He was in awe , started snapping photos and exclaimed, "Only in New York!"

Click on the images to enlarge and try to find those nude men on the rooftops. How many did you see?

The Flatiron Building is an artwork as it is but add to it a sculpture atop its roof and so close to edge, that is some work worth craning your neck for.

People gawked, some smiled and others shook their heads.

Some are creeped out, many are impressed, others are amused but hopefully most will understand that these are just sculptures.

Don't trip over that naked man. Don't call the cops on that stuntman or the guy attempting to take his own life. They are just a provocative work of art, you look at them and they look at you.