As part of the international celebrations for the commemoration of the first Surrealist Manifesto (1924-2024) and Hispanic Heritage Month in New York City, the Iván Tovar Foundation, chaired by Daniela Tovar Castillo, together with the NYC Department of Transportation and Times Square Alliance, present this September 15 the project: “Tovar The Chair”.
This is a public art initiative that gives dimension to the legacy of Dominican surrealist artist Iván Tovar (1942-2020), by exhibiting one of his most iconic works in Broadway Times Square, outside the confines of museums and galleries, focusing on an area accessible to the millions of tourists from around the world who visit New York City.
With the decisive support of businessman and collector Héctor José Rizek Sued, a member of the Iván Tovar Foundation, as well as manager and patron of the project, the FIT will turn Times Square into the epicenter of surrealism with the inauguration of La Chaise Adulte (2024).
Originally conceived in Paris as an oil on canvas in 1969, the work was reinterpreted by Tovar into a sculpture, first in 1971 cast in bronze at the Fonderie Blanchet-Landowski Workshop outside Paris and then in 2013 at the Art & Sculpture Unlimited Inc. workshop in Miami, Florida, United States.
In 2024, a monumental version of La chaise adulte, made of stainless steel by the Capa Esculturas workshop in Madrid (Spain), will be presented to the public. With a proposed dimension of 4 meters, the piece marks a significant milestone in the artist’s career, as it preserves his historical memory, and generates a visual and emotional impact that evokes, at the same time, the exploration of the multiple interpretations that arise about the piece both on a formal and aesthetic level.
This event is not only a call to rediscover surrealism as a living force, capable of interpellating 21st-century audiences, but also an invitation to celebrate Tovar’s work as a universal artist.
