Festive shop windows sparkle with silver tinsel and twinkle lights, showcasing gift-ready delights all around the Plaza. This year’s 74-foot-tall Christmas Tree is hidden like a present within scaffolding as it gets prepped for its grand reveal at the tree lighting (which takes place on December 4). Ice skaters loop around The Rink while merry music wafts through the air. Yes, the holiday season has arrived. Tapping into childhood memories of visiting Rockefeller Center during the holidays and seeing the backdrop for his favorite American Christmas movies from the ’90s in real life, Australian ceramicist Jake Clark’s new art installation channels a feeling of childlike wonder and joy conjured by the season.

Doubling as a love letter to New York City, Jake Clark’s exhibition at Rockefeller Center features 14 new ceramic sculptures, which draw inspiration from local eateries and holiday traditions. Installed throughout the campus until January 31, 2025, the presentation marks the latest edition of Art in Focus, a public art series spotlighting contemporary artists, produced in partnership with Art Production Fund.

Born in 1985 in Melbourne, Clark regularly visited the U.S. from Australia and developed a deep love of American pop culture — including basketball, movies, and branding, like the graphic design of candy wrappers, cereal boxes, and other supermarket packaging — that has long infiltrated his artwork. In 2022, he moved to New York City with his family. He now works from an art studio in Gowanus and resides in the West Village with his wife, their two young kids, and a black standard poodle named Prince.

For the imagery for this show, Clark hones in on cherished spots around Rockefeller Center to adorn the 10 voluminous ceramic vessels, arranged in a trio of vitrines inside 45 Rockefeller Plaza, that form the heart of the show. In one case, there’s a shimmery silver pot with Radio City Music Hall’s famed typography, a spring green vase bearing three of Magnolia Bakery’s signature frosted cupcakes, a handmade souvenir-style New York City snow globe, and a cheerful cherry red ode to FAO Schwarz, with a toy soldier moving across the piano made famous in the 1988 movie Big. “I wanted to make sure that I really captured the essence of Midtown Manhattan,” says Clark.

Across the lobby at 45 Rockefeller Center, another recurring form in Clark’s visual vocabulary appears: a vintage-style ashtray, which nods to retro design and serves as the basis for a sculpture. In this instance, the ashtray shape morphs into the artist’s take on The Rink, with a miniature gilded Prometheus statue watching over ice skating figurines based on characters from the murals — by Ludwig Bemelmans, the illustrator of the classic Madeline picture books— that cover the walls of Bemelmans Bar on the Upper East Side. Among these mini skaters, look for a black standard poodle. This fluffy figure is a secret nod to Clark’s pup who joins the ranks of other artists’ dogs, like those belonging to Lisa Congdon and Lorraine Nam, who have made canine cameos in past Art in Focus holiday installations. The aforementioned 10 vessels reappear in a 125-foot, printed-vinyl mural on Rink Level, as well as in standalone imagery on walls throughout the campus.

Clark grew up celebrating Hanukkah in Australia, where the holiday season happens in the summertime. But the cozy pop culture pull of wintery American Christmas movies transcended his religious upbringing and served as a springboard for this presentation. Having his work displayed throughout the iconic grounds of Rockefeller Center during the bustling holiday season, Clark notes, feels extra special. “I feel very honored to be able to create this body of work during this period of time, when people from all over the world come see the Tree and ice skate around The Rink,” he says. “I hope they feel like I've created something very happy that puts a smile on their face.”

Jake Clark’s artwork will be on view throughout the Rockefeller Center campus (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, and elsewhere) through January 31, 2025. This installation is part of Art in Focus, a series of art exhibitions produced in partnership with Art Production Fund.