PROVENANCE: Courtesy of the Artist
Tom Otterness is a contemporary American artist. He is best known for his
public sculptures, including his Playground on 630 West 42nd St. in New
York. Another famous piece Life Underground (2004), inside the 14th Street-
Eighth Avenue Station in New York, depicts small bronze figures engaged in
various tasks. His cartoonish bronze figures have political undertones, often
alluding to issues of money, sex, and class. “It’s a simple language; it’s a
cartoon language; it’s smiley, button faces,” the artist said. “People aren’t
thrown off by a language they don’t understand.”