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Featured Work
Leaper, The
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Roy ShifrinSculpture (EXTERIOR)
Orange County Administration Center
About the Artwork
This impressive, 8.5 foot-high bronze was cast in 1976 in Spain, at the Vila Foundry south of Barcelona. It is the artist’s favorite work of art. The covering over the Leaper's face is not a blindfold but a face mask, similar to those worn by the astronauts. In Shifrin’s words, “This sculpture represents a very primal desire of mankind, the dream of flight. This dream, whether it has taken us to the moon or as with The Leaper will really never get him off the ground, does not require success, what counts is the willingness to dare.”
About the Artist
Roy Shifrin
Roy Shifrin studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in Manhattan, New York. In 1964 he went to Europe with the intention of remaining there for six months, but stayed for 13 years. His artistic career has transpired between Europe and the USA. Large public works of his stand in many U.S. and European cities such as New York, Princeton, Orlando, Battle Creek, San Antonio, San Diego, Barcelona, and Badajoz and his work is included in most major European art collections. Shifrin has had five one-man shows in London, eight in Barcelona, and others in France, Italy, Ireland, and Holland (as of May 1984). In America, he has had four one-man shows in New York City and group and museum shows across the country. While sculpture has been his major career focus, over the past years work on monumental bronzes has offered him time and space for other creative paths including creating a book of poems, an autobiography and producing a number of inventions, including a flexing bicycle helmet that won a gold medal in the Industrial Design Excellence Awards in 2000.
Did you know?
Albin Polasek, heralded as one of America's foremost sculptors of the twentieth century, retired to Winter Park in 1950 where he completed 18 more major works
Discover Art in Central Florida!
For those who have eyes to see, there are hundreds of works of art around them.
This web site provides some information on many of those works of art that can
be regularly viewed in Orange County by any member of the public without an
admission fee. They are outside in public view, or located in an interior area
that is normally open to the public.
Look around this web site and find something that interests you. Then go see it
in person. The information you find here will add to the pleasure of exploring
public art in Central Florida.
If, in your travels around Orange County, you come across some public art that
is not listed here, please let us know so we can add it. If you are aware of
additional information about art or artist that is included here, again, please
let us know. Together we can make this an incredible resource for people seeking
to spice up their life through exploring art.