'Aurora' Sculpture in West Farms Square Comes Down

"Aurora," a wooden sculpture that's occupied West Farms Square
since 2009, was removed on Saturday. (Photo by Fausto Giovanny Pinto)

Something is conspicuously missing now from West Farms Square, the pedestrian plaza underneath the No. 2 and 5 train subway platform at the corner of East Tremont Avenue and Boston Road.

A hulking wooden sculpture that's been on display in the center of the square's brick circle for nearly two years was de-installed on Saturday, to make room for another public art piece to be erected in the same spot over the next few months.

"Aurora," an unpainted wooden abstract by Mexican-born artist Diego Medina, stood over 14 feet tall and was inspired, the artist said, by the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca’s 1930 poem, “La Aurora de Nueva York” (Dawn in New York).

The sculpture was installed by the Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) and the Department of Transportation in August 2009, part of the DOT's "UrbanART" program. BRAC says a new piece will replace it in the coming months.

"Aurora" filled the West Farms Square plaza for nearly two years. (Photo courtesy of BRAC)

Bronx News Roundup, Nov. 6

Back in 2004, the Bronx Criminal and Supreme courts merged, with the aim of slashing the time felony suspects languish in jail awaiting trial. Instead, just the opposite has happened, according to a damning new report. There's now a huge backlog of cases.

A Bronx author says vaccines - like the H1N1 one - may do more harm than good.

A plywood sculpture in West Farms Square, which the Tremont Tribune wrote about last month, has been is getting some press this week. See here and here.

Yesterday, State Sen. Jose M. Serrano helped launch a new Web site called Open Legislation. The aim: to increase transparency in the law-making process.

Still on Serrano, here he is blogging about the importance of arts education in a child's development.

A suspect in the recent murder of a Yonkers man committed suicide on the Major Deegan Expressway near Fordham Road early Wednesday.