Daily What?! Tom Otterness Sculptures in East River Off Roosevelt Island

While the popular destination on Roosevelt Island these days include FDR Four Freedoms Park and the abandoned smallpox hospital, if you head in the opposite direction you may happen upon some quirky sculptures by Tom Otterness. But you’d have to look over the water’s edge, as the sculptures come out of the water! Installed in 1996 and titled “The Marriage of Real Estate and Money,” the sculptures make a statement situated between the dueling residential developments on both Roosevelt Island and Midtown East.

Clawing lobster tries to merge with a house, but she’s not happy about it:

The coin (E Plurbis Unum, engraved on the coin) is almost pulled back into the river:

Coin and the house are married and happy in our capitalist world:

See more Tom Otterness work in the 14th Street subway station. See more quirky NYC facts and discoveries in our “Daily What?!” series. Submit your own via Twitter with the hashtag #DailyWhat.