Albright-Knox Public Art Initiative       ...........................Public Art - Table of Contents

"Balancing Act II"
44 Brayton St. at West Utica St., Buffalo, New York
By Aakash Nihalani

Sculptor:	Aakash Nihalani (American, born 1986)
Erected:	2018
Materials:	sStel, aluminum, and acrylic polyurethane
Owner:	Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Aakash Nihalani’s wall-based installations and free-standing sculptures playfully disrupt our perception of space with minimal means. These typically include geometric figures traced out with tape in the case of his murals and simple steel and aluminum shapes in the case of Balancing Act II and other sculptures. His work often seems designed to be photographed, and the increasingly commonplace translation of artworks into digital images becomes an integral part of the project’s overall aim to blur the distinction between two and three dimensions. In Balancing Act II, this approach to form is brought to bear on what appears to be a pile of blocks captured in a precarious moment of equilibrium. - Albright-Knox Art Gallery (online October 2019)

Partial reprint This is NOT a rendering… Balancing Act II is TRIPPY! By  Queenseyes Buffalo Rising, August 3, 2019  (online October 32019) Five Points Bakery has added a super cool and mind-bending work of art to its growingly complex landscape. This time, the baking campus has added a work from internationally acclaimed artist Aakash Nihalani, who is based in Brooklyn. The “trippy” sculpture is on loan from the Albright-Knox for three years – hopefully, like Shark Girl, this dynamic work of art will one day become a permanent addition to Buffalo’s public artscape. I love this sculpture. It’s cartoonish one second and part of the farm landscape the next. It looks out of place, yet like it belongs. Any work of art that can push people to question its existence is pretty bad-ass. It’s one dimensional. But it appears to be three dimensional … from the fourth dimension. It’s a cubed-pixelated masterpiece right out of a dated video game, mashed together with Tetris. Or an episode of Family Guy in the low resolution “blocky universe” (a universe in the multiverse). “I’ve been working with Aaron Ott from the Albright for a while trying to find a piece that would be great in that location. They have been incredible to work with and I’m so excited it’s finally in,” said Five Points Bakery owner Kevin Gardner. “And yeah it’s trippy. It looks Photoshopped in pictures!”

October 14, 2019 Photos View towards 44 Brayton Street   ...   The sculptrue gives the illusion of tilting and toppling blocks caught in a state of suspended animation View towards 44 Brayton Street Side view of the sculpture   ...    The sculpture is a  two-dimensional piece that looks three-dimensional View towards West Utica and Rhote Island Streets View towards West Utica and Rhote Island Streets