Art in the Parks
Past Exhibits (2005)
Manhattan
Kim Sillen Gledhill, The Tile Project, Destination: The World
November 11, 2004 to October 31, 2005
Mercer Street Playground, between W. 3rd Street
& Bleecker Street, Manhattan
Image: Kim Sillen Gledhill, Tile
Description:
The Tile Project, Destination: The Worldis an international arts project currently being exhibited in 23 locations around the world, from Azerbaijian to Vietnam. The exhibition includes 120 four-inch tiles designed by 120 artists from forty countries. The tiles on view represent a diversity of artistic styles and approaches to materials. Participating artists created tiles in ceramic, glass, and metal and applied imagery using hand-painted glazes, photography and digital imagery, and three-dimensional molding to create small works that come together to form a larger international art collaboration. Mounted to the fence surrounding the park in back-to-back sections, the tiles can be viewed from the street and from inside the park. The project was organized by TransCultural Exchange, with support from UNESCO and other international partners. For more information about the project, including a complete list of artists, visit the TransCultural Exchange website.
Related Info: Press release
Richard Deacon, Masters of the Universe: Screen Version
September 8, 2005 to April 15, 2006
Central Park, Doris C. Freedman Plaza - 5th Avenue @ 60th Street, Manhattan
Image: Richard Deacon, Masters of the Universe: Screen Version
Description:
Richard Deacon is widely regarded as one of the foremost sculptors of our time, best known for creating abstract works that combine biomorphic, open forms and virtuoso engineering. Since the outset of his career in the mid-1970s, Deacon has been interested in materials and their manipulation, working with both natural media and also using manufactured metals such as the industrial stainless steel of Masters of the Universe: Screen Version.
The title is a reference to constellations in the nighttime sky. In particular, the artist is interested in the way we name clusters of stars based on the two-dimensional shapes they resemble. He observes that there are an infinite number of different relationships among these stars – we just can't see them from earth. "The title refers to the way that humans conceptualize an image in order to represent it, and that representation is mastery. It's an illusion."
Born in Wales in 1949, Deacon lives and works in London. He was awarded the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize in 1987. A major exhibition of large-scale work opened this year at the Museo Artium in Spain and will travel throughout Europe. Deacon has had solo exhibitions at the Serpentine, Whitechapel and Tate Galleries in London, and was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery Liverpool in 1990.
Marjorie Kouns, Well-Lit Chess Pieces
April 23, 2005 to April 2006
Washington Square Park, Manhattan
Image: C Anna Morris / Annashoots.com 2005
Description:
Well-Lit Chess Pieces consists of 11 oversized chess pieces placed near the park's chess tables, and 26 multicolored vinyl lampshades covering the park lampposts. Luminescent by day and glowing like stained glass at night, the Empire-style shades resemble those of household reading lamps.
"I'm testing the attraction people have with public spaces and how they instinctively desire to make them part of their own property," said Kouns. "In this case I'm producing lamp covers in a reading lamp style that you would use in your living room, making the park part of your very own outdoor living area."
Ms. Kouns has maintained a studio in Greenwich Village , near Washington Square Park , for over 20 years. Her artistic practice focuses on public art, including mural painting and projects in collaboration with children. Well Lit Chess Pieces is sponsored in part by Starbucks Neighborhood Park Grants Program, Knickerbocker Village NY, Inc., Signature Properties NY, Inc., and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
Related Info:
Press Release
Jene Highstein, 11 Abstract Sculptures
October 2005 to April 2006
Madison Square Park, between 5th and Madison Aves, E. 23rd
& E. 26th Streets, Manhattan
Image: Jene Highstein, One Meter Tornado (External), 2004, quartzite
Description:
A series of sculpture by Jene Highstein are grouped by medium on five lawns panels in the park. Some of the groupings explore a basic sculptural form through subtle differences in texture and shape. Another panel features three of Highstein's Tornado pieces, funnel-shaped forms in quartzite of varying surface patterns and textures. Other groupings feature objects in wood and cast iron.
Mr. Highstein (born 1942) has been exhibiting sculpture internationally since 1968. His works are in the collections of major museums, such as the Victoria and Albert, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. He has created pieces of public art for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Wanas Sculpture Park in Sweden, and Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis. He has received four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Award, and the Saint Gauden's Award from the Cooper Union. He lives and works in New York.
Deborah Butterfield, Deep Time, Cicada and Wilder
October 1, 2005 to March 4, 2006
Park Avenue Malls, between 52nd & 54th Streets, Manhattan
Image: Deborah Butterfield, Deep Time
Description:
Three sculptures by internationally renowned artist Deborah Butterfield depict life-size horses, created from scrap metal and driftwood, each unique work cast in bronze. They appear on the grassy areas of the malls, against a backdrop of classic New York skyscrapers. The sculpture is presented u pon the recommendation of the Sculpture Committee of the Fund for Park Avenue and in cooperation with Edward Thorp Gallery , New York
Ms. Butterfield, who is based in Montana , has been creating sculptures of horses since the mid-1970s. In a recently published monograph of her work, art historian Wayne L. Roosa suggests that the artist transforms pieces of scrap metal and found wood into majestic, life-size horse sculptures that are like ancient noble archaeological remains, skeletal and grand.
Sol LeWitt, Curved Wall with Towers and Circle with Towers
May 2005 to February 6, 2006
Madison Square Park, between 5th and Madison Aves, E. 23rd and E. 26th Streets, Manhattan
Image: Circle with Towers (courtesy of Madison Square Park Conservancy)
Description:
Conceptual and Minimal artist Sol LeWitt has created two site-specific artworks for Madison Square Park . Circle with Towers is a three-foot high concrete-block ring punctuated by eight towers at equal intervals. Curved Wall with Towers is an eighty-five foot long curving wall with fourteen towers placed at equal intervals. The two pieces demonstrate LeWitt's career-long fascination with the cube as a modular unit.
LeWitt (born 1928, Hartford ) has been the subject of hundreds of solo exhibitions in museums and galleries, including: the Museum of Modern Art , New York; The Tate Gallery, London; The Kunsthalle, Bern; and the Stedelijk, Amsterdam . His work is represented in the collection of major museums worldwide.
Francisco Leiro, Speechless I-IV and Caracalla
June 2005 to November 30, 2005
Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, Second Avenue & 47th Street, Manhattan
Description:
Five massive wrought-iron figures by Spanish sculptor Francisco Leiro grace the steps of Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. These roughly-hewn, powerful images have their roots in the Galician sculpture of the artist's Spanish heritage. To these basic human forms Leiro adds abstract elements and surrealistic flourishes, expanding the works' narrative possibilities.
The exhibition was organized by the Instituto Cervantes, a nonprofit arm of the Spanish government that promotes Spanish culture internationally, in collaboration with the Friends of Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, and with the support of Marlborough Gallery and The Consulate General of Spain in New York.
Herb Alpert, Totems
October 2005 to November 2005
Bryant Park, Manhattan
Description:
"Totems," six cast bronze sculptures at midtown's Bryant Park, are the creation of music icon and visual artist Herb Alpert (b. 1935). A legendary trumpet player, Alpert is renowned worldwide for his extraordinary career with the Tijuana Brass, as a solo jazz and pop artist, and as co-founder of A&M Records. His career as a visual artist has paralleled his life in music for over three decades. His "Totems" were inspired by the art of Native Americans.
"The tribes of Indians who lived in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska created a new language of art that I related to," Alpert said. The art making process, he says, is "like jazz. Art is a feel. I like to journey into the world where words don't exist."
Ewe Zadrzynska, Poland on the Front Page
September 28, 2005 to October 27, 2005
Union Square Park, Broadway to 4th Ave, E. 14th to E. 17th Streets, Manhattan
Description:
This exhibition marks the 25th anniversary of the Polish Solidarity movement. In the autumn of 1980, the Gdansk shipyard agreements between representatives of Polish society and the Communist government legalized the first self-governing trade union in the Soviet Bloc. This set in motion the processes that ultimately led to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of Communism, and the end of the Cold War.
The exhibition features reproductions of newspaper front pages and magazine covers of major American media from the decade between 1979 and 1989. Through their blend of bold headlines and dramatic photographs, these media images highlight a turning point in world history as seen through American eyes.
Rene Letourneur, Three Bronze Sculptures
March 8, 2005 to September 30, 2005
Union Square Park, Broadway to 4th Ave, E. 14th to E. 17th Streets, Manhattan
Image: Au Soleil (1978)
Description:
Three figurative bronze sculptures by French sculpture Rene Letourneur (1898 - 1995) now on view in Union Square Park include Au Soleil (1978), Les Trois Figures (1974-1978), and Harmonie II (1975). Letourneur was a member of the French resistance in World Wars I and II; later much of his work consisted of public art commissions. The exhibition is made possible by the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Partnership.
Janet Cardiff, Her Long Black Hair
June 16, 2005 to September 11, 2005
Central Park, 59th Street & 6th Avenue, Manhattan
Description:
A production of the Public Art Fund, Janet Cardiff's Her Long Black Hair is a 35-minute journey that takes each listener on a winding journey through Central Park's 19th-century pathways, retracing the footsteps of an enigmatic dark-haired woman. Relayed in a quasi-narrative style, Her Long Black Hair is a complex investigation of location, time, sound, and physicality, interweaving stream-of-consciousness observations with fact and fiction, local history, opera and gospel music, and other atmospheric and cultural elements.
Each person receives an audio kit that contains a CD player with headphones as well as a packet of photographs. As Cardiff's voice on the audio soundtrack guides listeners through the park, they are occasionally prompted to pull out and view one of the photographs. These images link the speaker and the listener within their shared physical surroundings of Central Park.
Her Long Black Hair is sponsored by Bloomberg LP with additional support from the James Family Foundation.
The audio kit for Her Long Black Hair is available at a kiosk at 59th Street and Sixth Avenue, Thursday through Sunday, 10:00am to 3:30pm. Viewers will be asked to leave a drivers license or credit card in exchange for the audio equipment and should allow at least one hour for the walk. For more information, visit the Public Art Fund website.
Chinatsu Ban , V W X Yellow Elephant Underwear /
H I J Kiddy Elephant Underwear
April 2005 to August 29, 2005
Central Park, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, 5th Avenue @ 60th Street, Manhattan
Description:
Japanese artist Chinatsu Ban (born 1973) creates acrylic paintings and sketches of elephants and human figures that float on a blank rice-paper background or in front of candy-colored stripes. V W X Yellow Elephant Underwear / H I J Kiddy Elephant Underwear is Ban's first foray into sculpture. For the artist elephants represent peace and safety, dating back to a small elephant figurine she owned as a child.
Cuteness is an obsession for Ban. The Japanese word for cute is "kawaii" and the word has taken on tremendous cultural resonance in recent decades; the Japanese teen magazine Crea noted that kawaii is the most widely used, widely loved, habitual word in modern living Japanese. From Hello Kitty to the pop duo Puffy AmiYumi, Japanese contemporary culture is satured with things kawaii. Anything can be made cute, even, in this case, a pile of elephant poop.
This installation was organized by the Public Art Fund and the Japan Society, as part of an exhibition curated by Takashi Murakami called Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture.
Beverly Pepper, Horizontal Wedge
May 1, 2005 to August 20, 2005
Park Avenue Malls, between 52nd & 53rd Streets, Manhattan
Description:
Park Avenue is graced by renowned sculptor Beverly Pepper's mighty Horizontal Wedge (1991), which features a sheet of weathered steel held aloft by a two-part steel pedestal.
Ms. Pepper is a native New Yorker. In the past decade, she has installed site-specific environments and monumental sculpture in Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Lithuania, along with traveling shows across Europe and the U.S. Her sculpture, widely exhibited in the public realm since the 1960s, has included a 1983 installation in Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park . She has had solo exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, Forte Belvedere in Florence, Italy, and the Palais Royal in Paris and Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ . Her sculpture is in public collections around the world, including those of the Walker Art Center, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the Florence Museum of Art, and the Barcelona Museum of Modern Art.
Related Info:
Press
Release
Christo & Jeanne-Claude, The Gates, Central Park
February 12, 2005 to February 27, 2005
Walkways in Central Park, Manhattan
Description:
The Gates transformed Central Park with 7,500 16-foot tall free-hanging, saffron-colored fabric panels lining the Park's walkways.
Related Info:
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Queens
Various Artist, Down the Garden Path:
The Artist's Garden After Modernism
June 26, 2005 to October 9, 2005
Queens Botanical Garden, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Image: Anissa Mack and Dave McKenzie, It's a Small Float..., 2005, proposal image;courtesy of the artist.
Description:
Organized by the Queens Museum of Art, Down the Garden Path explores gardens as metaphors or points of departure to understand history, politics, and our relationship to nature. Complementing the indoor exhibition at the museum, artists Lonnie Graham, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Ghada Amer, Brian Tolle, and Diana Balmori, and Anissa Mack and Dave McKenzie will install five new works in the open spaces adjacent to the museum in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the nearby Queens Botanical Garden.
Brooklyn
Edwina Sandys, Tulips
May 3, 2005 to November 30, 2005
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn
Image: © Etienne Frossard
Description:
Tulips , a 12 feet high, painted aluminum sculpture of three red and white tulips, is the first public art installation in Brooklyn Bridge Park .
"Tulips are my passion and red is my color," said Edwina Sandys, the artist.
Ms. Sandys (pronounced "Sands") was born in England and now lives in New York City . Her work focuses on social issues affecting children, family, war and peace, women, and the environment. The United Nations has installed five of her monumental sculptures at their Centers around the world including "Child" at the United Nations International School on FDR Drive .
Sandys is known for her use of positive and negative cutout motif. Breakthrough, a major piece constructed from eight massive sections of the Berlin Wall, features male and female forms cut out from the wall's concrete surface. Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa and Margaret Thatcher have all walked through the openings in the wall. Sandys is represented in numerous private, corporate and museum collections. The lifesize "Marriage Bed" is on display on the fourth floor at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She is the recipient of the 1997 United Nations Society of Writers & Artists Award for Excellence.
Bronx
Alejandro Diaz, A Can for All Seasons
June 29, 2005 to September 29, 2005
Grand Concourse, between 164th - 165th Sts, Bronx
Description:
A project of the Public Art Fund, Alejandro Diaz's A Can for All Seasons celebrates the overlap between art and everyday life. Inspired by the practice in rural households of growing plants in empty grocery-store cans, he has created four sculptural reproductions of brand-name canned goods, each representing a different type of food that is indigenous to Mexico: corn, chiles, chocolate, and tomatoes. Enlarging them to the size of outdoor street planters, Diaz affectionately observes and celebrates the practice of "making do," of using something on hand to create an aesthetic object. By transforming a small, private act of home improvement into a public gesture, he also plays off of the tradition of social sculpture, with its emphasis on using art to reconsider the world we live in.
Current Exhibits
Art in the Parks Program
Temporary
Public Outdoor Art Guidelines