The High Line, a 2.3-kilometer public park built on unused elevated railway lines in New York City, will soon feature a new art exhibit titled The Light That Shines Through the Universe: an 8.2-meter tall Buddha sculpture created by Tuan Andrew Nguyen. The statue will reside on the High Line’s dedicated platform for large-scale sculptures from this spring.

Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American conceptual artist who resides in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. His sculpture takes inspiration from the two stone Bamiyan Buddhas, which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The original statues were dated to the sixth and seventh centuries and stood 38 and 55 meters tall, respectively. They were named for Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley, in which they were located.

A press release from The High Line discussed the title of the art piece: “The work’s title directly references the affectionate nickname local communities used for the larger Buddha: ‘Salsal,’ which translates to ‘the light shines through the universe.” (Spectrum News)

Nguyen’s statue is not an exact replica of the original staue. It is carved from sandstone quarried in Vietnam and utilizes polished stainless-steel elements to keep the statue erect. The Bamiyan statues were carved directly into the stone cliffs of the Bamiyan Valley.

“Nguyen sculpted the Buddha’s hands from melted artillery shells and shaped them into mudras—ritual gestures representing ‘fearlessness’ and ‘compassion.’” a press release from the High Line stated. “In Nguyen’s use of melted down artillery shells, the artist, who resides in Vietnam, also looks to the legacy of the Vietnam War (1955–75), and the continued violence and trauma that impacts local communities to this day, 50 years after its conclusion.” (Spectrum News)

The statue will be installed at New York City’s 10th Avenue and 30th Street, a location known as the Spur. The site was built in 2019 and serves as a stage for large, rotating art pieces, with seating and the ability to view the exhibited artworks from a variety of angles. In addition to providing space for art exhibitions, the Spur also contains extensive gardens inspired by the large, self-seeded gardens that occupied the area prior to the park being built in 2019.

The area is called the Spur in reference to the train tracks that originally passed through the area. Trains ran from the 1930s to the 1980s, primarily utilized by the United States Postal Service.

Nguyen’s Buddha statue will be placed in an exhibition space within the Spur called the Plinth, replacing a large pigeon sculpture, titled Dinosaur, which was created by Ivan Argote.

The Buddha statue is being carved in Vietnam, with a focus on traditional stone-working techniques. Upon completion, it will be transported to New York—a cross-continental journey that will end with the statue being installed at the Plinth, where it will remain until autumn 2027. In this way, The Light That Shines Through the Universe will help further the Plinth’s mission of addressing global issues and being rooted in the cultural fabric of New York.

The power and impact of the statue was summed up by Cecilia Alemani, who serves as the Donald R. Mullen Jr. director and chief curator of High Line Art: “It stands today as a powerful and poetic counterpoint to [the] extremism and iconoclasm we continue to witness globally.” She added: “By resurrecting the memory of the lost Bamiyan Buddhas, The Light That Shines Through the Universe reminds us that cultural treasures and shared history can transcend physical destruction.” (Spectrum News)

See more

27-Foot-Tall Buddha Sculpture Will Grace the High Line in NYC (My Modern Met)
A stunning sculpture of the Buddha modeled after a destroyed sixth-century statue is coming to New York City’s High Line (Smithsonian Magazine)
Buddha sculpture to replace giant pigeon on the High Line (Spectrum News)

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