In a city where everyone’s always in a rush, stuck in traffic or lost on Instagram, it can be easy to miss public art installations that are sitting in plain sight. Below, we’ve rounded up some you shouldn’t miss — which might make you late for the train, but at least you’ll get some artistic stimulation or some good Instagram content.

1. “I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door” by Dorothy Iannone

Located at 22nd Street, about midway along the High Line, Dorothy Iannone’s mural could not be more timely given the current political climate. Amid the trio of colorfully rendered Statues of Liberty runs the words: “I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door,” the final line from Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus” (1883). The sonnet was written to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, and its words speak to the freedom promised by immigration to America.

2. “I am Here” by Harumi Ori

“I am Here” by Harumi Ori reinterprets a common fixture in East Harlem’s Thomas Jefferson Park — the chain-link fence.  Ori started off by taking photographs of people at the park. She then created three-dimensional, multi-media ‘snapshots’ using industrial mesh, which she wove through the park’s fence. The installation aims to document and celebrate the neighborhood’s diverse population and at the same time makes a nod to the artist’s native Japan, where red is considered a sacred color.

3. “Rose Crystal Tower” by Dale Chihuly

Spectacular works regularly rotate on the Southeast corner of Union Square Park, but it can be easy to miss them when you’re rushing to grab the Lex. Currently commanding the space is glass artist  Dale Chihuly’s playful installation “Rose Crystal Tower,” which stands 31 feet high and is formed from Polyvitro crystals and steel. When the work was unveiled on Oct. 6, 2017, it marked the 50th anniversary of the Parks Department’s public art program Art in the Parks, which has brought more than 2,000 works of public art to the city. It will be on display through October 2018.

3. “Picnic” by Tamara Johnson

Don’t feel too bad if you’ve never noticed this hand-cast, concrete vignette at Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick. The display practically blends in amid fellow picnickers. The familiar scene displays soda cans, a ketchup bottle, and paper plates — the staples of a classic picnic. It’s at once a lighthearted rendering of relaxing in the park, but the harshness of the gray concrete gives the installation a somber and contemplative edge. Located near the park entrance, the work will be on display through March 2019.

4. “Wind Sculpture” by Yinka Shonibare

A new sculpture by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare has taken over the Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park, which has been home to a rotating cast of large-scale installation pieces for the past four decades. Shonibare’s 23-foot-tall fiberglass structure is painted to resemble West African fabric and its swirling movement is meant to evoke a sense of possibility and freedom. The installation will be in place through Oct. 14, 2018.

6. “I’m So Happy You’re Here” by Cara Lynch

The name says it all for this massive vibrant mural located in a small park in the Parkchester section of the Bronx. Offering a welcome burst of color alongside the Bruckner Expressway, “I’m So Happy You’re Here” blends themes of high and low art and public and private space. Artist Cara Lynch took inspiration for her sidewalk mural from traditional parquet flooring, the preferred flooring of the wealthy in 17th-century France. The work will be on display until July 19, 2019, and was made possible in part by UNIQLO’s contributions to Arts in the Parks.

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