Exhibited November 19, 2003 to August 25, 2004
“My Splendid Step represents the small steps that eventually make a difference,”
said Zigi Ben-Haim about his sculpture. According to the artist, the sculpture is a reflection of his own multi-cultural experience, and the variety of materials used are like layers of different cultures, each adapting to the other to survive. The artist was particularly drawn to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on the corner of Second Avenue and East 47th Street for its proximity to the United Nations. The 13-foot sculpture is constructed of painted aluminum, steel mesh and cast stone.
Zigi Ben-Haim (born 1945 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an American-Israeli sculptor and painter who lives and works in New York and Israel. He grew up in Israel and studied at The Avni Institute of Fine Arts in Tel-Aviv from 1966 to 1970. After he moved to the United States, he went to California College of Arts & Crafts in 1971 and received M.A at J.F.K. University in 1973 and M.F.A at the San Francisco State University in 1974. In 1975 he became a U.S. citizen, and has been living and working in lower Manhattan ever since.
With his sculptural works made out of discarded newsprint and industrial paper, which he found on the streets of Soho, he gained fame in the 1970s in the US, Europe and Israel. Later on, aluminum became the industrial basic material of his work.
He has received many awards and grants from institutions including Emily Harvey Foundation, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, The German Academic Exchange Service- DAAD, Muestra Int. do Obra Grafica (Spain), and the Ministry of Culture in Israel.
His works are included and exhibited in numerous public and private collections around the world, including the Guggenheim, the Jewish Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Israel Museum, and the Tel-Aviv Museum.
