Art in the Parks

Description:

Four giant red snails created by the Cracking Art Group have been placed around the famous Christopher Columbus monument at Columbus Circle, Manhattan. Curated by owner and director of Galleria Ca’ d’Oro, Gloria Porcella, the exhibition will last through January 6th, 2014. The eight foot snails are part of the REgeneration Art Project and are made of recyclable plastic obtained from landfills. The Cracking Art Group is committed to social and environmental concerns, and an innovative use of different recyclable plastic materials. Before arriving to Columbus Circle, the snails had been displayed in Central Park’s Rumsey Field and could also be found at the famous Italian food market Eataly.

This exhibition is presented by Galleria Ca’ d’Oro and Villa Firenze Foundation.

Description:

The Rockaway Barrier Beautification Project is the longest mural in New York City, covering a 1.5 mile stretch of road along the beach in Rockaway, Queens. NYC Parks invited artists and designers to envision the surface of these ordinary barriers as canvases for art. Members of the community helped to select the top three designs that grace the surface of these barriers and paint the murals.

This project was made possible thanks to a partnership between NYC Parks and the NYC Department of Transportation, the Community Affairs Unit (CAU) of the Office of the Mayor, NYC Service, and community groups, including the Rockaway Beach Civic Association, Rockaway Artists Alliance, and Friends of Rockaway Beach. Benjamin Moore generously donated 420 gallons of paint to the MayorâΑΑs Fund to Advance New York City for this initiative.

Jade Chan's design for the Rockaway barriers is titled In Flight. When she visited Rockaway Beach, she was inspired by the warmth, the sun and the colors that jumped out at her from the sky, water and sand. The sound of the surf and the breeze upon her skin was exhilarating. She observed the birds in flight and was inspired by this free and liberating vision. Chan sees In Flight as a representation of the freedom and strength of the human spirit.

Learn more about the Rockaway Barrier Beautification Project.

Description:

The Rockaway Barrier Beautification Project is the longest mural in New York City, covering a 1.5 mile stretch of road along the beach in Rockaway, Queens. NYC Parks invited artists and designers to envision the surface of these ordinary barriers as canvases for art. Members of the community helped to select the top three designs that grace the surface of these barriers and paint the murals.

This project was made possible thanks to a partnership between NYC Parks and the NYC Department of Transportation, the Community Affairs Unit (CAU) of the Office of the Mayor, NYC Service, and community groups, including the Rockaway Beach Civic Association, Rockaway Artists Alliance, and Friends of Rockaway Beach. Benjamin Moore generously donated 420 gallons of paint to the MayorâΑΑs Fund to Advance New York City for this initiative.

As a surf regular of Rockaway Beach, John Garcia pays tribute to Rockaway BeachâΑΑs surf culture in his barrier mural. He has painted images of Rockaway surfers riding waves, along with the birds that often keep them company on the water and on the shore. These images of birds and surfers sit on top of an aquatic abstract backdrop that captures the mystery and beauty of the ocean. The barriers also include the text âΑΑWelcome to the RockawaysâΑ as an invitation for others to experience the waves and serenity of Rockaway Beach.

Learn more about the Rockaway Barrier Beautification Project.

Description:

The Rockaway Barrier Beautification Project is the longest mural in New York City, covering a 1.5 mile stretch of road along the beach in Rockaway, Queens. NYC Parks invited artists and designers to envision the surface of these ordinary barriers as canvases for art. Members of the community helped to select the top three designs that grace the surface of these barriers and paint the murals.

This project was made possible thanks to a partnership between NYC Parks and the NYC Department of Transportation, the Community Affairs Unit (CAU) of the Office of the Mayor, NYC Service, and community groups, including the Rockaway Beach Civic Association, Rockaway Artists Alliance, and Friends of Rockaway Beach. Benjamin Moore generously donated 420 gallons of paint to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City for this initiative.

As an artist, Patty Harris has created animations of floods and is fascinated by the way water moves. Experienced in looking closely at the sea, she pulled a few simple forms that suggest the movement and pattern of a wave. For the Shore Parkway barrier, Patty painted shapes that express the undulating movement of a wave. She added curved shapes that hold water of a slightly different color—just as actual water displays a range of hues. To this rhythmical simple pattern, Harris included the silhouetted forms of surfers at the crests of the waves.

Learn more about the Rockaway Barrier Beautification Project.

Description:

Wayfinding: 100 NYC Public Sculptures is a site-specific project that invites the public to embark on guided journeys through NYC to find public sculptures. Phunsombatlert researched all existing public sculptures in New York City and identified 100 sites to be incorporated in his final work. He then created small drawings of each sculpture and developed directional signs and maps that resemble standard U.S. National Park Service signage. The artwork is made up of signage for 100 public sculptures that contain distances drawn from GPS coordinates between each sculpture and the group of wooden posts outside of the Queens Museum at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

The project is made possible by the generosity of the Athena Foundation, Awesome Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Location One, New York Foundation for the Arts’ Opportunity Grants, Puffin Foundation, Ltd., Puffin Foundation West, Ltd., Socrates Sculpture Park, Mark di Suvero, Anne Dunning, Rob Herschenfeld, James T. MacGregor & Claire Montgomery, Ivana Mestrovic, and Jan Mun.

Description:

Artists: Matt Callinan, Jordan Griska, Meredith James, Fitzhugh Karol, Lilian Kreutzberger, Zaq Landsberg, Heidi Lau, Amanda Long, Christopher Mahonski, Kimberly Mayhorn, Eto Otitigbe, Brie Ruais, Edward Schexnayder, David Wilson, Dane Winkler

The annual Emerging Artist Fellowship (EAF) Exhibition is a cornerstone of Socrates Sculpture Park’s visual arts programming and is widely acclaimed for the ambition, breadth, and innovation of the works on view. Featuring fifteen artists, EAF14 is a survey of the compelling and diverse state of sculpture today.

Each EAF14 artist has engaged with the larger narrative of public space in a dynamic and daring way, building upon Socrates Sculpture Park’s goal to present socially aware, inspiring art in the public realm. EAF14 artists were selected through a high competitive process that attracted a broad field of nearly 300 candidates, reviewed by the park’s curatorial advisors Anne Barlow (Executive Director, Art in General) and Joe Sheftel (Joe Sheftel Gallery, New York). Selected EAF14 artists were awarded a 2014 Emerging Artist Fellowship, including 24/7 access to the park’s outdoor studio and facilities, as well as the financial, technical, and curatorial support to realize his or her most ambitious work possible.

This project is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park

Description:

Kate Gilmore’s sculptural and performance-based works raise questions about feminine identity and contemporary power dynamics. Wall Bearer, the park’s current Broadway Billboard, is documentation from the eponymous performance at The Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro North Carolina in 2011. For that project, six performers, dressed in identical pink outfits, stood in individual alcoves within a matching pink wall.ÃΑΑÃΑÂ The performers, all women, stood perfectly still for three hour stretches, during which time visitors to the exhibition could walk through the space, viewing the performance as a still-life or a sculpture to be briefly admired.

In Wall Bearer, the live female body is transformed into a sculptural element, referencing 1970’s performance art and later feminist artworks.ÃΑΑÃΑÂ Here Gilmore presents a parade of pink and a rotating cast of all-female performers. The pink’s Pepto-Bismol-like hue borders on saccharine and feels imposed and thus unattractively burdensome for each woman. Camouflaged, anonymous, and uncomfortable, each woman may be a column of support and essential to the overall tableau, but she is also easily overlooked, suggesting that there is more than a physical wall to be overcome.

This project is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park

Description:

Queen Mother of Reality by Pawel Althamer is a monumental, mixed media sculpture of an elegant figure that is peacefully reclining in the shaded southern section of the park overlooking the East River waterfront. Althamer’s sculpture is dedicated to and inspired by “Queen Mother” Dr. Delois Blakely, a U.S. Ambassador of Goodwill to Africa,who has been the Community Mayor of Harlem since she was sworn in by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1995. Queen Mother of Reality serves as a call to highlight the numerous displaced and homeless of New York City – Dr. Blakely’s paramount cause.

This exhibition is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park in collaboration with Performa, and in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

Description:

Scarecrowis a new site-specific installation by artist Zilvinas Kempinas and the largest installation in Socrates’ 28-year history. Minimal and magical, the sculpture will be a 250-foot-long, thirteen-foot-high kinetic pathway composed of 200 stainless steel, mirrored poles connecting energetic slopes of silver Mylar ribbon overhead. With two simple elements – poles and tape – Scarecrow activates the invisible forces of nature. Scarecrow will reflect its surrounding environment and thus will continuously change throughout the exhibition. The perpetual motion of the ribbon, as it responds to the wind of its environment, will echo the natural flowing of the nearby East River, while the mirrored material will reflect momentary shifts of light and sky like a shimmering horizon along the waterfront.

This exhibition is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park.

Description:

SuralArk by Jason Timberlake Austin and Aleksandr Mergold, of the Philadelphia-based architectural firm Austin+Mergold, is the winning proposal for Folly 2014, an annual design / build competition co-organized by The Architectural League of New York and Socrates Sculpture Park. This residency and exhibition explores the intersections among architecture, design, and sculpture through an interpretation of the architectural folly. The project was selected from over 170 submissions by a jury of architects and artists, including Chris Doyle, artist; John Hatfield, Socrates Sculpture Park; Enrique Norten, TEN Arquitectos; Lisa Switkin, James Corner Field Operations; and Ada Tolla, LOT-EK.

The 2014 Folly program is made possible by a generous grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

This exhibition is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park.