Portrait photo by Jason Schmidt

Thaddeus Mosley: Touching the Earth

June 3 – November 16, 2025 City Hall Park, Lower Manhattan

Thaddeus Mosley is best known for crafting monumental sculptures from fallen trees, which embody a poetic dialogue between form and intuition. This exhibition highlights a number of Mosley’s sculptures, including Gate 3, a monumental bronze archway which showcases the tactile qualities of hand-carved timber. Throughout Mosley’s works, the weighted organic trunks and intertwined limbs result in biomorphic sculptures which dually evoke gravity and flight. Sited in City Hall Park, the exhibition highlights the interplay between self, sculpture, and architecture, creating a dialogue on the relationship between human-made structures and the natural world.

Touching the Earth draws its title from an essay by author bell hooks which considers the replenishing properties of nature, particularly in Black cultural contexts, and reflects on her continual longing for lush landscapes while living in New York City. hooks explains that, by existing in natural environments, one becomes a witness to beauty and cultivates a spirit and reverence for life.

Thaddeus Mosley: Touching the Earth is curated by Public Art Fund Assistant Curator Jenée-Daria Strand.