The Runner

The newest piece of neighborhood public art makes its debut in Meatpacking tomorrow. The Runner, a public sculpture by Japanese, Brooklyn-based artist Tomokazu Matsuyama, is on view on the newly transformed West 14th Street Promenade between Washington Street and 9th Avenue. 

Originally unveiled in The Best Part About Us, Matsuyama’s 2022 solo exhibition at Kavi Gupta (Chicago, IL), The Runner is part of a sculptural dialogue exploring movement, energy, and collective human experience. The work debuted alongside its companion sculpture Dancer, together reflecting Matsuyama’s interest in how different cultures express similar human impulses through motion and ritual.

Hand-welded from stainless steel and polished to a mirror finish, the fragmented and curvilinear form shifts between abstraction and figuration. From certain angles, viewers can recognize traces of a human body in motion, a head, limbs, even athletic shoes, while other perspectives dissolve into reflective surfaces and fluid geometry. Simultaneously familiar and dreamlike, the sculpture invites viewers to see themselves reflected within the work and to consider movement not only as physical action, but as a broader symbol of cultural exchange and collective identity. In their distorted, curvilinear surfaces we see ourselves and wonder, like a glimpse into the Matrix, which side of the mirror is real. 

The Runner will be on view from July 2 through September 28, 2026.