Art in the Parks

Description:

Kuhn’s sculpture for the Cloisters Lawn is a monumental wooden cut-out in the silhouette of a grand, equestrian memorial statue. The artist recasts this classic image of the hero into an examination of what has been left out or forgotten in our histories. It forcibly reinterprets the idea of the vanquisher. Kuhn chose Fort Tryon Park for Monument in part because its physical geography—high on a hilltop—enhances the association of the conquering figure. In addition, the proximity of the Cloisters lends further connection to the history of Western regimes (including the advent of the American industrialists who took as their “spoils” the art and architecture of past European empires). Finally, the artist adds that the diverse communities of the surrounding neighborhoods speak to the many cultures whose histories are often overlooked in the narrative of the subjugating Western men that still dominates our textbooks.

Kuhn was born in 1971 in Boston and now lives in Brooklyn and works in Long Island City. She has a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and has trained in Italy at La Cipressaia, Montagnana, and Scuola Lorenzo di Medici in Florence. She has had solo exhibitions of her work in New York, San Francisco, and Boston, with a show in Seoul, Korea scheduled for October 2007.

This project was organized by ZieherSmith Gallery and made possible by the Fort Tryon Park Trust.