2023 Arsenal Gallery Exhibits

December 1, 2023 – January 4, 2024

NYC Parks’ 41st Annual Wreath Interpretations Exhibition

A holiday tradition since 1982, NYC Parks welcomes the holiday season with Wreath Interpretations at the Arsenal Gallery. Now in its 41st year, this year's exhibition features more than 30 imaginative, whimsical wreaths handcrafted by Parks employees, artists, designers, and creative individuals of all ages. As in years past, the wreaths use unusual and unexpected materials to re-imagine the traditional holiday decoration. Visitors will see wreaths made of thumbtacks, dryer lint, a tire, steel scouring pads, plastic eyes, and candy wrappers.

Image: Audrey Zeidman, Insomniac Dream Lover, 2023, Plastic eyes and painted board

September 15, 2023 – November 9, 2023

Mi Parque Mi Tierra

NYC Parks welcomes Hispanic Heritage Month with Mi Parque Mi Tierra, on view at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park. This exhibition features nearly two dozen artworks that explore Latino culture and celebrate the environmental, aesthetic, and recreational benefits of green spaces in New York City and beyond. Created in a variety of media, the artworks reflect on Latino identity and depict the many ways New Yorkers use our city parks, from family gatherings to playing music, as places of recreation and of quiet reflection.

Mi Parque Mi Tierra (“My Park My Land”) is presented by NYC Parks’ Latino Society.

Image credit: Carlos Mateu, Nature with Cardinals, 2020, Acrylic on canvas.

June 29, 2023 – September 5, 2023

Heart of the City: Kevin Couliau, An Ode to NYC Basketball

This exhibition is a visual journey through New York City's outdoor basketball scene through Kevin Couliau's photographs, spanning 2004 to 2020. Drawing from his iconic book, "Blacktop Memento: Fragments of Erosion" and his groundbreaking documentary "Doin' It in the Park: Pick-Up Basketball, NYC," this exhibition unveils the raw beauty that permeates the city's playgrounds on the 10th anniversary of the seminal film. Join us as we celebrate the boundless energy of pick-up basketball and the undeniable cultural impact of New York City's public parks.

This exhibition is curated by Common Practice with the support of the National Basketball Players Association and Project Backboard.

Kevin Couliau, La Guardia Playground, Brooklyn, Giclee print, © Kevin Couliau, 2009

March 22, 2023 – June 16, 2023

Ji Zhou: Symbiosis

NYC Parks is pleased to present Ji Zhou: Symbiosis, which includes eight large-scale photographs by Ji Zhou, curated by Eli Klein Gallery. Ji Zhou’s transcendent and mesmerizing designs reflect on the relationship between the natural and the artificial and between order and disorder.

Image credit: Ji Zhou, Honeysuckle Summer Midnight, 2021, Giclee print, courtesy of Eli Klein Gallery © Ji Zhou

February 2, 2023 – March 9, 2023

Heritage: Exploring Past, Present, and Future in Black Art

Celebrate Black History Month at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park with “Heritage: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future in Black Art.” This exhibition features artwork by NYC Parks employees exploring their Black heritage in a variety of media. The exhibition also includes selections from a collection of vintage hip-hop flyers and vintage invitations produced by NYC Parks’ Ebony Society—an employee-based affinity group.

Artists include Tuwanda Harmon, Preston R. Coston. Jr., Curtis Sherrod, Claudette Ramos, Patrick Forman, and St. John’s Recreation Center Senior Quilters. This exhibit was curated by NYC Parks’ Ebony Society.

Image credit: Tuwanda Harmon, Busy Women, 2016, Digital Art