To mark the expansion of the New Museum on the Bowery in New York, artist Tschabalala Self created Art Lovers, a monumental sculptural work installed on the museum’s façade. The commission forms part of the institution’s long-standing Façade Sculpture Program, one of the most visible and prestigious platforms for contemporary artists in New York, and inaugurates a new phase in the museum’s architectural life following the completion of its expansion designed by OMA.

Factum Arte worked closely with Tschabalala Self to fabricate the sculpture, translating the artist’s distinctive figurative language into a large-scale public work integrated into the architecture of the building.

Born in Harlem in 1990, Tschabalala Self has emerged as one of the most influential figurative artists of her generation. Her practice combines painting, collage, printmaking and textile construction to explore how bodies—particularly Black female bodies—are represented, imagined and politicised in visual culture.

In Art Lovers, two figures are locked in an embrace, their bodies twisting together in a stylised kiss. The exaggerated forms, bold contours and dynamic movement echo the physicality of Self’s paintings while extending her language into a new spatial and architectural dimension. The work can also be read within a broader art historical lineage of the kiss—from Constantin Brancusi’s reduction of form to essential volumes to more expressive modern and contemporary interpretations—while remaining firmly rooted in Self’s own visual vocabulary.

Standing over four metres high, the realisation of Art Lovers required the translation of a materially complex and layered artistic language into a durable, outdoor sculptural form. The process began with detailed 3D modelling by Factum's Irene Gaumé, developed from the artist’s drawings and previous works. Through a series of one-to-one sessions with the artist, the digital model was refined to retain the fluidity and expressive force of Self’s figures while resolving the challenges of scale and structure.

The engineering of the piece, developed in collaboration with Structure Workshop, addressed the complexity of mounting a sculpture of this scale onto a façade. The work was designed to withstand wind loads while enabling efficient rigging and installation through a discreet structural system integrated within the aluminium form.

The sculpture was 3D printed in resin and subsequently cast in aluminium by Fademesa in Madrid. The mould-making process was particularly demanding, as it needed to capture the fine, textile-like surface of the work and preserve the intricate weave-like textures characteristic of Self’s painting practice. Maintaining this level of detail through casting presented a significant technical challenge.

The final surface was entirely hand-painted. Each floral motif was individually painted by Jordi García Pons and Ivan Allende, while the richly textured surface was worked with layered tones of polyurethane paint to introduce depth, variation and dynamism. This combination of advanced fabrication techniques and skilled craftsmanship allows the work to retain the tactile and visual complexity of the artist’s original language.

Installed at the point where the New Museum’s original SANAA-designed building meets the new expansion by OMA, the sculpture responds directly to the architecture. The meeting of the two volumes has been described by the architects as a “kiss point”—a moment where the buildings appear to lean into one another. Self’s work mirrors and amplifies this gesture, transforming the junction into a new landmark on the Bowery. In a moment marked by political and social tensions, Art Lovers projects an image of human connection, tenderness and proximity into the public realm.

Factum Arte would like to thank Pilar Corrias Gallery, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Petzel Gallery and the New Museum for their support and collaboration on this project.