Art in the Parks
Past Exhibits (2006)
Manhattan
Ursula von Rydingsvard & Czara Belkami, Mad. Sq Art: Ursula von Rydingsvard
May 2006 to February 28, 2007
Madison Square Park, Manhattan
Image: Ursula von Rydingsvard with Czara Belkami.
Photography by Zonder Titel.
Description:
Four major sculptures by Ursula von Rydingsvard will be on view, including the artist's first translucent outdoor work. . The centerpiece is Damski Czepek, a new sculpture for the Park's luxuriant Oval Lawn. In the tradition of the artist, Damski Czepek begins with a quotidian household object remembered from childhood—here, a bonnet, which the sculptor transforms into an evocative abstract form. Mad. Sq. Art: Ursula von Rydingsvard is a production of the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
Hester Street Collaborative, Avenue of the Immigrants
June 2006 to April 2007
Allan Street Malls between Hester & Grand Streets, Manhattan
Image: courtesy Hester Street Collaborative
Description:
This project, in honor of the co-naming of Allen Street to "The Avenue of the Immigrants", celebrates a broad range of immigrants, artists, activists, and even buildings that have contributed to the rich cultural history and diversity of these communities. This site-specific installation is the culmination of a two-year intergenerational collaboration between local residents, cultural organizations, and public school students at M.S. 131 participating in Hester Street Collaborative's Ground Up program. This project is designed to strengthen the community led effort to reclaim the Allen and Pike Street corridors.
Marcia Raff, Feynman's Fancy
August 2006 to January 2007
Verdi Square,Broadway between 72nd-73rd Streets, Manhattan
Image: Marcia Raff, Feynman's Fancy
Description:
These stainless steel sculptures are based on the physicist Richard P. Feynman's diagrams of the interactions of electrically charged particles. Marcia Raff, the artist, has participated in public art projects in multiple locations in the United States and Israel. She is a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, International Sculptors Society, USA, and the National Arts Club, New York City.
Matthew Geller, Awash
September 2006 to December 24, 2006
Collect Pond Park, Leonard Street, between Centre & Lafayette
Street, Manhattan
Description:
Awash, a sculptural installation by Matthew Geller, invites the public
to sit and swing beneath a cooling stream of water. Geller’s steel-and- Plexiglas
structure provides shelter from its own inclement weather. A water tank sprays water onto
a skylight incongruously mounted on a "sidewalk bridge," much like the ones
that protect pedestrians at construction sites. Inside the bridge hang several seats
recalling both old-fashioned porch swings and traditional park benches, allowing up to
eight people to sit and talk while rain splashes romantically on the skylight overhead.
The swings and spraying water hark back to an earlier time, when Collect Pond Park was
known a fishing and recreation lake. After suffering the effects of too-dense
urbanization, the Collect was drained by the City and became the home of the notorious
"Five Points" district, immortalized in the book and film Gangs of New York.
Cristóbal Gabarron, Mysteries of Columbus
October 10, 2006 to December3, 2006
Columbus Circle to 168th Street, Manhattan
Image: Cristóbal Gabarron, The Mysteries of Columbus.
Credit: Malcolm Pinckney, NYC Parks & Recreation
Description:
On view along Broadway is an installation of eight colorful abstract sculptures by Spanish artist Cristóbal Gabarron. The explorer Christopher inspires the works, which appear on the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of his death. The sculptures can be seen at: Simon Bolivar Plaza (6th Avenue and Central Park South); Columbus Circle (59th Street); Dante Park (63rd Street); Broadway and 79th Street; Montiefore Park (Broadway and 137th Street); Broadway and 157th Street; and at Mitchel Square (Broadway and 168th Street).
Chuck Close, Dayanita Singh & Mitch Epstein, Cities in Transition
September 19, 2006 to November 10, 2006
Madison Square Park, Between 5th & Madison Aves, E. 23rd &
E. 26th Streets, Manhattan
Description:
In this exhibition, five images from each artist will look at how urban America is evolving, including the face of immigrants in New York, the impact of the automobile on Boston, and the changing landscape of Hartford. American painter, photographer and print maker Chuck Close photographed New York City. American photographer and filmmaker Mitch Epstein shot Boston. Indian photographer Dayanita Singh, known for her portraits and landscape images, captured Hartford. The project is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation.
Dennis Oppenheim, Garden for the Accused
September 2006 to November 3, 2006
Thomas Paine Park, Worth, Lafayette & Centre Streets, Manhattan
Image: Dennis Oppenheim, Garden of Delights
Description:
Its title referring to the area's adjacent courts and jails, Garden for the Accused includes trees, rocks, flowers and hedges, radically transformed from their counterparts in nature. Fluorescent trees with steel mesh branches support brightly colored acrylic foliage. "In a way, it's like bringing Las Vegas to the backyard," says Dennis Oppenheim, the artist. Oppenheim's new work follows a long trajectory from his early rejection of the gallery space for the outdoors and even his own body as sites for art. His first earthworks in 1967 "brought the land and the soil into the work itself." Oppenheim has shown extensively in major galleries and museums around the world, including several retrospectives following his first at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1974.
An indoor and outdoor exhibition at the Arsenal in Central Park, 5th Avenue at 64th Street, will be shown inconjunction with the project through November 8, 2006.
Sarah Sze, Corner Plot
May 2006 to October 2006
Central Park, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park, Manhattan
Image: Sarah Sze, Corner Plot
Description:
An ambitious and intricate sculptural installation by Sarah Sze has a presence both above and below ground. Corner Plot depicts a corner of a building that has emerged from the pavement to reveal a mysterious subterranean interior within. Sze's installation is a project of the Public Art Fund, which regularly programs art in New York City's parks.
Dorothy Frankel, Alert Cat, Betty, Big Dog, and Happy Dog
April 2006 to November 2006
Carl Schurz Park, 86th Street Promenade, Manhattan
Image: Dorothy Frankel, Happy Dog. Courtesy of the artist.
Description:
Hamptons-based Dorothy Frankel displays bronze sculptures of three dogs and one cat. The artist has been very active in volunteer work at local animal shelters and in public education programs pertaining to animal care.
West Harlem Art Fund, Hallelujah Public Art Festival
July 2006 to September 2006
Marcus Garvey, Morningside, & Jackie Robinson Parks, Manhattan
Image: Luisa Caldwell, Jetfire
Courtesy the West Harlem Art Fund
Description:
Four installations are part of the Hallelujah Public Art Festival, a production of the West Harlem Art Fund. At Marcus Garvey Park, Cuban-American artist Florencio Gelabert presents Forest Door, three tilting columns of stainless steel. At Morningside, Barbara Segal's Drawn to Water features playful, oversized lily pads and dragonflies on the park's scenic pond. On the south lawn of Jackie Robinson, Luisa Caldwell's Jetfire is a giant "model" plane, poised for flight.
Various Artists, Studio in the Park
May 2006 to September 2006
Riverside Park, West 72nd to West 145th Streets, Manhattan
Image: Fabian Marcaccio, The Fall
Description:
This outdoor exhibition features site specific works by eleven contemporary artists: Orly Genger, Robert Greenberg, Elana Herzog, McKendree Key, Mischa Kuball, Emil Lukas, Fabian Marcaccio, Alexis Rockman, Kenny Scharf, Gary Simmons, and Steed Taylor. Two works will fill tunnels; one sits on the water, and another on the grates covering the railroad tracks. The project is curated by Karin Bravin of BravinLee Programs, and is presented by the Riverside Park Fund in celebration of its 20th anniversary.
Kim Holleman, Trailer Park
June 26, 2006 to August 5, 2006
Petrosino Square, Manhattan
Image: Kim Holleman, Trailer Park (interior view)
Courtesy the Storefront for Art and Architecture
Description:
Kim Holleman's Trailer Park (2006) will be shown as part of the exhibition PORTABLE at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. Founded in 1982 and based on Kenmare Street, the Storefront for Art and Architecture is a nonprofit organization committed to advancing innovative positions in art, architecture and design.
Trailer Park is a living park environment housed within an 18' x 8' x 7' travel trailer. Holleman has gutted the interior and built and planted a park inside. She has installed two park benches, a water fountain, flowerbeds, earthworms and ladybugs. Trailer Park functions as both a visual attraction in Petrosino Square, and as a platform for conversations about public park spaces. The interior of the trailer can be viewed Tuesday-Saturday, 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Queens
Alyson Baker and Andrea Zittel, Interstate - the American Road Trip
May 2006 to August 2006
Socrates Sculpture Park , Astoria, Queens
Image: Mark Klassen, The Payphone Project
Description:
Interstate – the American Road Trip is a collaboration between Socrates and High Desert Test Sites in the southern California desert. Interstate is a cross-country exhibition about the American road trip that addresses the space between the two sites – both a great geographical distance and a vast psychological expanse. The participating artists are: Lisa Anne Auerbach, Melissa Brown, Katie Grinnan, Chris Hanson & Hendrika Sonnenberg, Mark Klassen, Los Angeles Urban Rangers, R. Scott Mitchell, Carolina Pedraza, Virginia Poundstone and Allison Smith.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Working Artists Coalition, Garden of Delights:
24th Annual BWAC Outdoor Sculpture Show
August 12, 2006 to October 13, 2006
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Main Street and East River, DUMBO
Image: Doug Makemson, Royal Heron
Description:
This annual exhibition includes sculptures by local artists, including: Courtney Kessel
Clevenger, Allan Cyprys, Thea Lanzisero, Alexandra Limpert, Doug Makemson, Jack R. Howard Potter,
Rodger Stevens, Naomi Teppich, and Tyrome Tripoli. The exhibition continues in Empire-Fulton
Ferry State Park.
Rebecca Pollock, Become
December 2005 to December 2006
Mural for Taffee Playground, Taffee Pl, Park & Myrtle Aves, Brooklyn
Image: courtesy of the artist
Description:
This mural covers a temporary wall adjacent to Taffee Playground. The subject of it relates to the omnipresence of litter in the neighborhood surrounding the playground. The artist selected the black plastic shopping bag
as a symbol of this urban problem. "Rather than focus on the carelessness that this object represents when found in the street, I've chosen to sculpt it into another kind of debris: a leaf," says Rebecca Pollock, the artist. "Become encourages others to make similar leaps of the imagination with all the elements of their environment. I hope that this image will promote a spirit of making something beautiful out of something ugly and making the most out of limitation."
Ms. Pollock is enrolled in the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts.
Current Exhibits
Art in the Parks Program
Temporary
Public Outdoor Art Guidelines