On Wednesday, two artists installed a 1,500 pound (680 kilograms) ice sculpture carved to spell the word 'Economy' in Manhattan's financial district.

The 'Main Street Meltdown' was to remain in Foley Square until it melted - about 24 hours. By Wednesday evening, the E and the C had already thawed and vanished.

The backdrop to the sculpture - the wide stairs and row of pillars fronting the state Supreme Court building - is instantly recognisable to millions of viewers of TV's Law & Order.

'To see the word 'economy' melting down is representational of an extreme time,' artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese said on their website.

The artists said the sculpture, which is 1.52 metres tall, 4.6m wide and sits on a pedestal, was installed on Oct 29 because it is the 79th anniversary of the day in 1929 when the stock market crashed, precipitating the Great Depression.

Earlier this month, painter and printmaker Laura Gilbert stood outside the New York Stock Exchange and passed out signed and numbered prints of her 'Zero Dollar', which looks like a dollar bill except it has a zero in the place of a one.

She said the artwork was a statement about 'the destructive role of many financial institutions, inflation and the decline of US currency to the point of seeming worthlessness'.

Another artist, Geoffrey Raymond, also has drawn attention for his work related to the ongoing economic crisis. Mr Raymond paints large portraits of powerful executives, including former Lehman Brothers chief Richard Fuld and Bear Stearns' ex-chairman James Cayne, sets them up on the sidewalk and invites the public to scrawl remarks.

'Economy' is the fourth in a series of political ice sculptures Ms Ligorano and Ms Reese have created. Earlier this year, they carved blocks into the word 'Democracy' and allowed them to melt during the Republican and Democratic conventions. -- AP