#untappedcities Instagram "Pic" of the Week: The Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower Sculpture

Metropolitan Life Insurance sculpture by Alexandre Arrechea, photo submitted by Instagramer @poopiej

This week’s #untappedcities Instagram “Pic” of the Week is of Alexandre Arrechea’s MetLife Insurance Company sculpture on Park Avenue, sent in to us by Instagram user @poopiej.
The stainless steel sculpture was part of a series called No Limits by Arrechea, a Cuban artist, which included a similar sculpture of the Helmsley building intended to look like a snake eating its own tail, the Seagram Building, the Chrysler Building, Citicorp Center, Empire State Building, Flatiron Building, MetLife Building, Sherry Netherland, and the US Courthouse. This site-specific art installation, which stretched from 53rd to 67th street, was produced in partnership with the NYC’s Department of Parks and Recreation and The Fund for the Park Avenue Sculpture Committee. You can catch three of the sculptures in Union Square this summer.

In ArtPulse Magazine, Steven Knudsen analyzes the series of sculptures, and of the MetLife Insurance building, connects its form to the core of MetLife’s business–insurance:

The essence of Arrechea’s sculpture is so clear that a postmortem is not needed. Let me simply remark if you stand in just the right spot, this fully coiled, hulking giant (at the ready) points down directly at you. It is an implication of life and death and the business that tempers such certainties.

There were even limited-edition miniature versions created of each of the sculptures.

Anyone can submit their photos for the #untappedcities Instagram “pic” of the week! Simply hashtag your Instagram or Twitter pictures with #untappedcities. You can also keep an eye on what other Untapped photographers are capturing and sharing by following our live feed.