NEW YORK – I stopped by the East River Waterfront Park in Greenpoint just in time to catch the sculpture exhibit, up since August, as it was coming to an end, to examine the pieces curated by the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition. The group has been putting on the show in various locations since its conception in 1982 with the emphasis on bringing art to the public instead of art for commerce.

The current sculptures follow this year’s theme of perpetual energy, which according to their website, was put together by curators that looked “at work that taps into the free energy that surrounds us, like the sun, wind and the current of the East River – sculpture that implies infinity or circular argument, and work that pays homage to the idea of environmental and social sustainability.”

Barbara Lubliner and Sun Jin Oh’s Plastic Bottle Pyramid certainly fits that criteria as the installation is made entirely of empty soda bottles. The clear plastic result looks a bit like an igloo through which you can examine the Manhattan skyline.

The pointing finger sculpture by Miggy Buck is less obviously a tribute to environmental sustainability, but the piece’s directing index fingers captures the idea of responsibility, whether environmental or social. That phalange seems to be angled at you and brings up every schoolteacher or mother who has scolded you. Forget littering or any other disruptive behavior, that finger seems to entreat everyone to behave well, even the kids playing in the playground nearby. There are few pieces of art that interact with the public in such a dramatic fashion while remaining completely static.

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