Art in the Parks

Good Neighbors preserves the memory of a place in anticipation of inevitable change by engaging residents and local businesses by making portraits with short interviews. These are the people and places that make up a shared environment: the place where we eat, sleep, shop, and “do” all the most basic rituals of living; this place is completely familiar in its light, sounds, smells and sights. These are people where we share the most significant space - the space that we call “home”.

The exhibition on the park’s fences is in conjunction with an installation on the playground-facing wall, which includes images from the Good Neighbors series, a painted canvas of a city-scape, a memorial image of the playground’s namesake Anibal Aviles, and figures of children and tree leaves.

A painted fiberglass structure that stands 16 feet tall, this monumental sculpture features artist Hebru Brantley’s signature character, Flyboy. Within the canon of comics, very few characters of color exist. Flyboy was created by Brantley as an exploration into what a superhero character of color would look like. Inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American military aviator pilots who fought in World War II, they carried out all successful missions and had the lowest loss records of all fighter groups. At a time when Black folks were treated far less than equal, the Tuskegee Airmen’s successes meant that much more. Flyboy is a nod of admiration and respect to these men and an inspiration to future generations aspiring to soar far above their predicted possibilities.

Installed in several locations on the Allen Street Malls between Broome and Hester Streets, this group exhibition features four artworks by five artists addressing themes of nature. Artists include Elizabeth Knowles and Eric David Laxman, Elaine Lorenz, Judith Peck, and Michael Wolf.

This exhibition is presented by Sculptors Guild.

The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) commissioned Harlem native A$AP Ferg and curator Set Free Richardson to create this design for the Greg Marius Court at Holcombe Rucker Park, which pays homage to the warrior spirit of the Harlem community and embodies the essence of the many great basketball warriors of the Rucker from the past, present, and future.

This exhibition is presented by the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).

Chinatown Yarn Circle, led by Tina Lin, Naomi Lawrence, and local organizations, represents an intergenerational community mobilizing to STAND together; SPEAK up for justice; and SHAPE society through civic action and crochet. The flowers are in tribute to AAPI community builders, embodying collaboration, triumph over struggle, and inspiring future generations.

• Flowers with cultural significance and symbolic ties to the Asian community
• Chinese Bamboo symbolizing strength and resilience.
• China – Peony
• Taiwan – Plum Blossom
• Hong Kong – Orchid
• South Korea – Rose of Sharon
• Japan – Chrysanthemum
• India – Lotus
• Singapore – Orchid
• Vietnam – Lotus
• Philippines – Arabian Jasmine
• Thailand – Orchid
• Malaysia - Hibiscus
• Indonesia – Orchid

Stand Speak Shape is made possible in part with funding from OCM, Think Chinatown, Asian Americans for Equality, and Knitty City

This large-scale fiberglass sculpture in the shape of an abstracted drone atop a 25-foot-tall steel pole is the second High Line Plinth commission. With this work, Durant seeks to make visible the intentionally obscured drone warfare perpetuated by the US, and to remind the public that drones and surveillance are a tragic and pervasive presence in the daily lives of many living outside—and within—the United States. At the same time, drones are employed daily for humanitarian purposes, such as delivering supplies and medicine to isolated locations, to survey mine fields, and to tame wild fires that have ravaged landscapes. 

This exhibition is presented by the Friends of the High Line.

Thomas J Price: Witness marks the British sculptor’s first US solo institutional exhibition. Price’s nine-foot bronze figure, The Distance Within (2021), is sited within Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park and depicts a young Black man looking down at his cell phone. With Witness, the artist continues his exploration of blackness and Black masculinity at monumental scales. In The Distance Within, Price asks us to consider what is projected onto Black bodies as they move in the world and in what ways they are made monolithic via broader archetypes and stereotypes, as well as how Black bodies in the ordinary everyday are subject to extraordinary surveillance and spectatorship.

This exhibition is presented by the Studio Museum in Harlem.

This mural is a colorful, subtle tribute to the legacy of Space Jam and iconic Looney Tunes characters that also speaks to the vibrancy of the Harlem neighborhood.

This exhibition is presented by Warner Brothers.

Sitting in the Apple, users will be able to enjoy a 360-degree view of their surroundings at all times. Since the arrival of Covid-19, citizens have taken to the streets and local parks more frequently to get their daily exercise and enjoy a change of scenery. This Apple is BIG on ensuring that distancing measures are maintained while participants enjoy their urban discoveries. Not only is the modern cutout slices design airy, but the space also allows for only one family or couple at a time in the core.

This exhibition is presented by Hudson Yards Hells Kitchen Alliance.