Z was one of five artists hired as part of the Wollman Rink Artist Project - muralists, graffiti artists, and street artists representing all five boroughs of New York City. They’re life-size, of real people she knows, at once instantly relatable and urbane but at the same time part of a constellation that’s uniquely the artist’s – a mom in sunglasses juggling a handbag and a crying baby, a pit bull in midair, a happy mermaid. And what was Z’s commission? To populate the Zamboni at Wollman Rink with her distinctive figures.
Z, as in Elizabeth, is the daughter of our old friends, Germantown, NY residents Susan Bodo and David Behl. So it was with much interest that I learned this week of a novel commission won by an artist whose career I’ve followed since she was in utero, Z Behl. On a more optimistic note, there are few experiences more life-affirming than donning a pair of skates and gliding across frozen lakes, as the surrounding forest seems to applaud in appreciation at your daring, if not grace. And there’s always the risk that it will crack, break and devour you. The problem with pond skating is that there are so few days a winter when the ice resembles that at Rockefeller Center or Central Park’s Wollman Rink. For those unfamiliar with this important invention, Zambonis are those riding vehicles used at ice skating rinks and hockey arenas to resurface damaged ice, returning it to shimmering, unblemished perfection. If money were no object I’d buy a Zamboni for our pond.
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