NEW YORK, NY.- Charlotte Hailstone Wu, in collaboration with AG Art Designs, is presenting “Afterglow”, a large-scale sculptural seasonally driven frame installation at the Flatiron NoMad Plaza, through the Flatiron Nomad Partnership. The work marks Hailstone Wu’s first major sculptural commission in a public space, and an extension of the optical and material questions that have defined her painting practice.

Made from transparent plexiglass, the installation transforms the Flatiron NoMad Frame into an interactive light sculpture. The acrylic elements allow views of the Flatiron Building and surrounding streetscape to remain visible while casting shifting colored shadows across the plaza as sunlight moves throughout the day. The result is a vibrant, public structure that changes by the hour and invites engagement, interaction, and pause.

Timed with Pride, the work pulls from ideas of community and celebration, while staying rooted in an ongoing interest in how color moves through architecture and shared space. The rainbow palette is a deliberate choice, tied to the moment, but it also sits naturally within Hailstone’s broader practice, where color isn’t just symbolic, it actively shapes how we see and experience a place.

“I’ve always been interested in how color behaves once it leaves the surface and moves into space. Plexiglass is a pretty direct way to do that. It holds form, but throws color back into the environment. In a public setting like this, the work isn’t static. It shifts with the sun, the surrounding architecture, and the people moving through it. As the scaffolding comes down from the Flatiron Building, the frame opens back up to it, so the structure begins to hold the building again while projecting color out into the plaza.” —Charlotte Hailstone Wu

Hailstone Wu (b. 1994, Baltimore) is a New York-based artist who studied at Parsons School of Design, whose work draws from Color Field painting, Op Art, and graphic design. Her practice builds layered color structures that create optical drift and spatial tension, surfaces that resist a stable sense of foreground or depth. Her work has been shown at Galerie Vallois, The Hole, Marinaro Gallery, Harper's, Ruby Dakota Gallery, 81 Leonard, and Salon 21, as well as at Future Fairs in New York. She also serves as a curator at Loft Projects, a ‘pop up’ gallery producing large-scale group exhibitions for emerging and mid-career artists.

The installation is currently on view at the Flatiron NoMad Plaza, Broadway at 23rd Street, Manhattan, having opened on June 2, 2026. Admission is free and open to the public.

Hailstone Wu and AG Art & Designs tapped the fabricators Counterpart to help bring the vision to life.

AG Art Designs is a New York-based art consulting firm specializing in placing contemporary and modern artwork in public spaces and large development projects. The firm brings together strategic vision, deep expertise, and personalized service to connect artists with new audiences.





CHARLOTTE HAILSTONE WU

Charlotte Hailstone (b. 1994, Baltimore) is a New York-based artist and curator whose work explores color, perception, and spatial tension. She holds a BFA in Communication Design from Parsons School of Design. Her father's work in the decorative arts department at the Baltimore Museum of Art introduced her early to conservation and material investigation, an influence that runs quietly through the precision of her practice. She is a curator at Loft Projects.

AG ART DESIGNS

AG Art Designs is an art consulting firm specializing in placing contemporary and modern artwork in public spaces and large development projects. The firm works across a range of scales, from residential commissions to major public installations, with a focus on storytelling and lasting impact.

ATOMIC DIGITAL

What does it feel like to be inside a rainbow? This June, Afterglow, in the Flatiron NoMad North Plaza offers an answer.

Atomic Digital has partnered with contemporary artist and curator Charlotte Hailstone Wu and AG Art Designs to bring an interactive AR experience to the public sculpture, Afterglow, placed directly in front of the Flatiron Building, with the sculpture acting as a frame to the building.

‘Afterglow’ refers to the lingering light of a rainbow after it fades. Created in celebration of Pride Month, the sculpture casts shifting rainbow shadows throughout the day, creating a literal afterglow of color. We saw an opportunity to make take immersion even further.

The Digital Layer: We’ve developed a bespoke interactive AR experience that activates directly at the installation and can be accessible anywhere in the world. While the sculpture frames the city, the AR experience puts the people at the center of the art. It’s a digital celebration of Pride that transforms the viewer into the world of Afterglow’s rainbow

Suddenly you're not watching the light. You're in it. Surrounded by color, celebrated by it.🌈

#AR #ImmersiveTech #ArtTech #PrideMonth #NYCArchitecture #AtomicDigital