Purchase College Grad Displays Art in Union Square

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Purchase College graduate Malcolm MacDougall III will have a sculpture he created displayed for the next six months at Union Square Park in New York City. 

MacDougall, 22, who grew up in Ardsley, created a piece called “Microscopic Landscape,” which has greeted students, staff and visitors at the entrance of the college during the past year. The statue which stands at 11-feet tall and is 24-feet long. It will be in a “triangle” of the park, which also includes statues of historical figures such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Ghandi. MacDougall’s statue will be on view from Thursday, June 14, through the end of January 2013.

MacDougall was a student at Purchase College’s School of Art+Design, where he received the first President’s Award for student public art on campus. A press release from the college said MacDougall has made a number of sculptures of similar size that play off organic and inorganic metaphors.

“My art stems from a fascination with the natural sciences,” MacDougall said. “In particular, I am drawn to microscopy, the method of using microscopes to view objects that cannot be seen by the unaided eye.”

Included in MacDougall’s work are pictures of bacteria and cellular methods that he pulled from specimens through microscopy. The press release said MacDougall is also inspired by geological processes, such as plate tectonics and erosion.

"This sculpture is about potential energy and pushing a stagnant object as close to perceived movement as possible,” MacDougall said.

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