The new North Hall and Library at Bronx Community College (BCC) is now home to one of the largest public art commissions the Bronx has seen since the late 1930s. On Sunday, November 4, 2012, artist Daniel Hauben's 22 paintings-collectively entitled A Sense of Place-at the North Hall & Library at BCC and an accompanying exhibitionCreating a Sense of Place (on view October 23-November 29, 2012) at the Hall of Fame Gallery, will be publicly celebrated.
Honoring a long tradition of incorporating fine art into majestic libraries, Robert A.M. Stern Architects designated specific locations for artwork in their original designs for the new building. Commissioned by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York on behalf of the City University of New York, the commission to create the artwork was awarded to acclaimed Bronx-born Daniel Hauben, who worked on the 22 paintings for three years.The paintings feature classic Bronx vistas and neighborhood street scenes, waterways and bridges, elevated trains, rooftops and BCC campus scenes. Two ten-foot murals grace the stairwells leading up to the library, while 20 paintings measuring five-feet-wide each elaborate the frieze along the balcony that surrounds the elegant and airy Information Commons. Hauben's focus of the Bronx as subject matter invites the viewer to cultivate a greater appreciation and awareness of the world around them, and to see their environment-and their place within it-in a new light.Videos