Bjorn Skaarup

"After taking up residence at Dante Park by Lincoln Center, the Flatiron South Public Plaza and the Girl Scouts of America Building, the iconic "Hippo Ballerina" statue has dubbed Pershing Square Plaza West its new home."

"Normally when New Yorkers want to see ballet they might head to Lincoln Center, but new statue installments in Midtown Manhattan give pedestrians the chance to check out some animals striking a pose."

The Palm Beach Post shares an image of the installation of Bjorn Skaarup's Hippo Ballerina at Cavalier Gallery.

Through there is still a chill in the air, and lingering remembrances of winter storm Stella have yet to melt entirely, spring officially arrived this week. In honor of the changing of the seasons, artnet News has rounded up the best public art currently on view or presently opening here in New York. Enjoy!

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17. Bjørn Skaarup, Hippo Ballerina at Dante Park
A classic scene from Disney’s Fantasia, in which tutu-ed hippopotamuses dance the ballet, comes to life, fittingly, outside Lincoln Center. The two-and-a-half-ton bronze statue stands at over 15 feet tall, and is inspired by the iconic Little Dancer statue by Edgar Degas.

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In honor of World Tutu Day (it’s 2/2/2017, get it?) we’re shining a light on the latest ballerina to make it big in New York City: She’s tall and quiet, with a captivating sparkle in her eye. She hangs out near Lincoln Center. She’s a traditionalist and prefers to rehearse in the old-style garb à la Degas-era Paris Opéra. She’s also a hippo.

Wait, what?

A Hippo Ballerina Arrives in Dante Park...

Hippo Ballerina and her friends are coming to New York this February, 2017 to help melt away your February blues!

Usually a slow time for putting up public art, winter this year will see the installation of a whimsical outdoor sculpture on the Upper West Side starting February 7. The creation of Danish artist Bjørn Okholm Skaarup, Hippo Ballerina, as it’s titled, is a 15-foot-high bronze of the titular beast wearing a tutu and a pair of pointe shoes. Inspired by the character Hyacinth Hippo from the Disney film, Fantasia, and modeled on the the Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Impressionist master Edgar Degas, Hippo Ballerina will occupy Dante Park at the intersection of 64th Street and Broadway just outside Lincoln center. It will be on view through July 31, so expect tons of photos of it on Instagram. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A lion on a rocking horse, a giraffe on stilts, a cheetah on a scooter, a kangaroo on a Pogo stick and the stand off between the tortoise and the hare, reimagined as a potato sack race, are just a few of the whimsical scenes from Danish bronze artist Bjørn Okholm Skaarup that will be part of “Carnival of the Animals,” an outdoor sculpture exhibit on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral. Each of Skaarup’s eight bronze sculptures are inspired by ancient fables, art history, or modern animation and offer a whimsical story or allegory to decipher. The exhibit is available for public viewing from September 21, 2016 until November 28, 2016.

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For the offbeat cast of animals in his menagerie of bronze sculptures, Bjørn Skaarup draws from a diverse set of sources: classical mythology, ancient fables, modern animation, late Renaissance art, and 20th-century American popular culture. Cavalier Galleries in Connecticut recently exhibited “Carnival of the Animals,” a veritable zoo of these wild sculptures...

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