<strong>Hello Kitty Fountain</strong> | Tom Sachs | New York City at Schema : more than ethnic

Hello Kitty Fountain | Tom Sachs | New York City

hellokitty%20foutain.jpg For real? In the swanky New York City neighborhood of Park Avenue, you will find a 21-foot Hello Kitty statue, two 10-foot tall bronze fountains -- one of Hello Kitty and the other of Miffy, and more -- all designed by renegade artist Tom Sachs.

Tom Sachs is probably smirking right now, he's not one to be shy about provocation. Like the time he substituted Hello Kitty for the baby Jesus in a 1994 Barneys Christmas window. The bronze fountains are featured at the Lever House's public ground-floor exterior space at Gordon Bunshaft's Modernist Park Avenue tower. Tom Sachs' works, including Hello Kitty and friends, was unveiled in May 2008 and will remain in New York until September 6, when it will move to Paris and open there in October.

Sachs describes Hello Kitty as a "pure merchandising icon" with "an almost Buddhist sense of nothingness." With water spilling from their eyes, the fountain figures are weeping into pools of their own tears.

"She's a pure merchandising icon," explains Tom Sachs. "Hello Kitty is universal. The purity makes her a great vehicle for understanding the truth in our lives. They'll be up all summer so the children of New York City can enjoy the fountain [where water pours from kitty's eyes!]." He continues to say Hello Kitty has "an almost Buddhist sense of nothingness."

Please.

More: via New York Times | via Kitty Hell | via Fashion Week Daily | Tom Sachs interview @ Wallpaper | More pics of Hello Kitty and Miffy fountains under the cut (via Sperone Westwater)

Hello Kitty fountain, bronze, under construction pics from Wallpaper (see all):