Nutty Professor Shellyne Rodriguez holding a machete to a reporter’s neck tapped the NYC center to install the $407,000 art.
The unhinged former CUNY professor who held a machete to the neck of a New York Post reporter now has a permanent, taxpayer-funded art installation in the Bronx.
The New York Department of Cultural Affairs has ignored Shellyne Rodriguez’s infamous future by clearing the $407,000 budget for her 23-foot-tall brick, steel and terracotta Marxist sculpture called “Phoenix Ladder: Monument to the People of the Bronx.”
It was unveiled in November near the Grand Concourse and Morris Avenue — a little more than two years after he pleaded guilty to a slap in the face with Bronx prosecutors for beating veteran New York Post reporter Reuven Fenton.
The permanent work, commissioned by the city through the Percent for Art program, is embedded in a tree of residential buildings and is hailed as a testament to the palace’s resilience after the holocaust of the 1970s.
The monument – which already has cracks near its base – is decorated with images of the phoenix, the mythical symbol of rebirth; a series of piercing eyes; four clenched fists symbolizing black power/community unity, and the home state letters “B” and “X.” At the top of the building is a black staircase that goes up and down.
“If abolition is not only about what we tear down, but also about what we build in its place, then what monuments or gathering points do we, a collective body of the dispossessed who make a living on the edge of the state, make for ourselves as stewards of our histories and futures,” he told Hyperallergic in November.
The installation began in 2018 through the city’s Percent for Arts program, which sets aside 1% of city-funded construction project budgets for new art, as part of the now-completed $62.5 million Grand Concourse renovation.
A panel of local elected officials, art experts and community board members chose Rodriguez, who put in $81,400, as 20% of the budget for each piece of art created during the Koch administration’s program was set aside to pay “the artist’s fee,” city officials said.
Bronx residents slammed the piece as sad.
“A violent person, there are better people who should have been given a chance,” said Frankie Santiago. “It looks like garbage.”
“If they’re being offensive like that – and they’re using taxpayers’ money and they’re getting privileges – maybe we should rethink this,” Jose Lopez said.
“It looks weird,” he added.
The self-proclaimed “dark Marxist” told Hyperallergic in November that he thought of the piece seven years earlier at a time when “the memory of the violent foundations of the United States was being collectively questioned.”
In May 2023, it was Rodriguez, 48, who showed his violent base when Fenton knocked on his Bronx apartment for comment a day after the then-art professor at Hunter College made headlines with a pro-life student walkout on the Manhattan-based CUNY campus.
“Get the f–k out of my door, or I’ll cut you with this machete!” she shouted from behind her closed door shortly after Fenton revealed himself.
Seconds later, Rodriguez stepped outside and put the blade to the reporter’s neck.
“Get the f–k out of my door! Get the f–k out of my door!” he fumed, before later kicking Fenton in the groin and chasing a Post photographer in his car after leaving the house.
His camera-caught descent made Page 1 of The Post with the headline “THE NUTTY PROFESSOR.”
Rodriguez pleaded guilty in October 2023 to menacing, disorderly conduct and violating the harassment statute.
He was immediately fired from his Hunter gear after the attack, but avoided jail time and a criminal record with a plea deal brokered by Bronx prosecutors and approved by Democratic Judge Dan Quart — by completing counseling and staying in trouble for a year.
In February 2024, he was expelled from another lecture at Cooper Union for being anti-Israel. His website does not highlight any current projects.
The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs declined to comment on Rodriguez’s violent past.
The agency also shrugged off questions about whether it was considering pulling the award before construction began after the embattled Rodriguez was arrested in May 2023 and charged with assault and battery for threatening to “cut” Fenton down.
Instead, the agency said the criminal background check is not part of the Percent Arts approval process, but follows city procurement rules to select “responsible” contractors.
The agency dismissed concerns about cracks and fissures already marking the foundation of the monument.
“Public images are often inspected and weather-related wear and tear is common, especially after a severe winter. Any maintenance required is usually done once the winter season has passed,” the department said.
Rodriguez declined to comment Saturday while standing outside his home in the Bronx.
Additional reporting by Jennifer Bain.
