A foot of snow changes the tone. Manhattan slows, sharpness gives way to hush, and suddenly the city remembers its own beauty. New York Roots emerged from the white like a body refusing to stay hidden—muscular, deliberate, reaching skyward with the confidence of something built to last.
New York Roots After the Snowstorm: Public Art, Steel, and the City That Keeps Rewriting the Future – Public Art – Travel – Wellness Travel – LGBTQ+ Travel – Photography & Words by Maxwell Alexander
Steel That Grows Like Thought
The New York Roots sculptures rise from the Garment District plazas like something organic learning how to become urban. They twist, reach, and curve upward with a confidence that feels alive. Steel, yes—but steel behaving like a living system. Snow collected at their base, softening the ground, while the forms themselves stretched toward the grid-lit towers above. Seeing them after the storm made the whole installation feel less like an artwork placed in the city and more like the city quietly admitting it has roots.
A Sculptor Looking Up
As a sculptor myself, I’m endlessly fascinated by works that negotiate scale without apology. These forms don’t compete with skyscrapers; they converse with them. Standing beneath the arcs and loops, I kept looking up—at the sculpture, at the buildings, at the impossible vertical ambition that defines New York. The way these pieces “sprout” into the sky feels intentional, almost philosophical, echoing how creativity here refuses to stay grounded.
Queer Walking as Urban Wellness
I walk New York the way some people meditate. No destination, just movement and attention. For queer travelers and Hudson Valley residents who treat wellness as lived experience rather than performance, this kind of night walk becomes grounding. Public art, especially at this scale, offers refuge. It slows the nervous system while feeding the imagination. The cold sharpens everything, but the city keeps you held.
Why New York Keeps Answering the Big Questions
Lately, I’ve been thinking about where America goes next—how a society evolves into something more generous, more respectful, more inspiring. Last night, standing beneath New York Roots, the answer felt obvious. It’s here. New York City remains the proof that community, diversity and creativity thrive together, not separately. Nowhere else do ideas collide, overlap, and elevate one another at this scale.
From Frozen Streets to Broadway Lights
Eventually, the cold won. I followed instinct and neon, ending the night inside a Broadway theater, warming up while watching Chicago’s 11,500th celebration performance (anything that endures this long has mastered the art of evolving without losing its spine!). That shift—from snow-covered public sculpture to theatrical spectacle—felt entirely New York. Art outside, art inside, all part of the same ecosystem. The city doesn’t ask you to choose between grit and glamour. It insists on both.
New York Roots: Context and Craft
Installed across plazas in the Garment District, New York Roots has become a defining piece of contemporary public art in Midtown. You can read more about its presence along Broadway via West 42nd Street, explore the district’s perspective through the Garment District Alliance, or dive deeper into the sculptor’s broader practice at Steve Tobin’s official site.
New York is my home. It always has been, always will be. Snowstorms pass, skylines evolve, politics spin themselves dizzy—but the city keeps doing what it does best: inspiring, connecting, and reminding us that creativity, when shared, becomes a form of collective survival.
LGBTQ+ Travel, Public Art, and the Fine Art Eye
LGBTQ+ travel, at its best, moves beyond destinations and into perspective. It’s about how places reveal themselves through culture, public art, architecture, and the quiet confidence of spaces that allow creative expression to exist openly. As a photographer, sculptor, and art reviewer, I approach New York City the same way I approach the Hudson Valley and the Catskills—with attention to form, scale, light, and intention. After all, New York City sits on the banks of the Hudson River, and at HVSM we happily consider it part of the same cultural ecosystem.
Through ongoing art reviews, fine art photography, and visual essays, Hudson Valley Style Magazine explores how queer presence, wellness travel, and contemporary art intersect across New York City, the Hudson Valley, and the Catskills. These stories focus on craftsmanship, longevity, public sculpture, architectural dialogue, and the artists shaping place at monumental scale. Readers can explore more curated journeys in our LGBTQ+ travel section and receive early access to photo stories, long-form art criticism, and refined travel narratives by subscribing to the Hudson Valley Style Magazine newsletter.
