Art in the Parks

Life in the Abstract is Wyatt Kahn’s first public art exhibition, comprising seven new monumental sculptures fabricated in Cor-Ten steel. Each sculpture juxtaposes components adapted from Kahn’s abstract canvas paintings with “readymade” items like eyeglasses, clock, comb, hand, foot and other elements from his domestic life. The artist translated seventeen line drawings into large welded steel blocks and arranged them in ways that suggest imaginative narrative compositions. Sited in City Hall Park, the works open a conversation between the private sphere of the artist’s life and the public realm of urban architecture, landscape and infrastructure. Life in the Abstract adds to the lineage of modernist public sculpture, infusing it with both playfulness and rigor, reminding us that the creation of abstract ideas and the business of daily life go hand in hand.

This exhibition is presented by Public Art Fund.

Artist Idriss B.’s collection of playful and whimsical polygonal animal forms in different sizes in this inaugural temporary public art exhibition in this section of Park Avenue. There are nine brightly colored animals between 34th and 38th Streets, creating a temporary zoo on this busy thoroughfare.

This exhibition is presented by Patrons of Park Avenue, and the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association.

Members of JASA Club 76 spent the spring of 2022 attending Klein’s workshop on photography and have applied the concepts they learned to create this collaborative body of work. Each person photographed by Klein intentionally chose every aspect of their portraits to create an image of themselves in their own vision. The idea was to create a portrait that captures each person’s legacy as they want to be seen and remembered by friends, family, and the world.

The Red String is an art installation inspired by the Chinese knot, a type of Eastern folk art consisting of distinctive patterns that symbolize unity and love. The installation integrates a series of physical banners with short animations using an Augmented Reality (AR) application on mobile devices. Viewers are advised to scan the AR codes on the banners with smartphone cameras in order to watch the animations, which reinterpret Chinese folktales or traditional operas to reflect on the modern Asian-American identity. As an art project, The Red String calls for unity and dialogue across the cultural and ethnic boundaries within the social spectrum. 

This exhibition is presented by More Art.

Flushing Meadows Corona Park lacks a true contemporary art homage to the legendary Tent of Tomorrow, which will now itself be lit at night for the city's new program. The Tent of Tomorrow was designed by Philip Johnson for the 1964 World's Fair, however it is modeled off its Russian predecessors, namely the Shukhov Rotuna for the All-Russia Exhibition of 1896. Light Portal incorporates several elements of the original physical structure in a new design, with the many colors of the light disc above audiences to represent the diversity of languages and cultures in Queens. During our current period of closed borders around the world due to politics, it is important to remember periods of greater international exchange of ideas, and collaboration. Light Portal envisions hope, progress, and growth, creating a meditative and playful space. The work casts a kaleidoscope of healing colors onto viewers and the ground below during the day and is lit by solar-powered LED lights at night.

This exhibition is made possible by the Art in the Parks: Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park Grant, which supports the creation of site-specific public artworks by Queens-based artists for two sites within Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

This series of murals depicts various landmark areas of Forest Park, including Oakridge, The Overlook, the Carousel, the Nursery, the Golf Course, the Bandshell, Strack Pond, the Buddy monument, and the Pine Groves, as well as the natural beauty of the trails including the bridle path. The goal of the mural is to promote all the different amenities in the park and draw visitors to areas of the park that they may not frequent.

This exhibition is presented by the Forest Park Trust.

This mural is meant to invoke smiles, gentleness, and happiness. The hummingbird welcomes children to play and invites families into a public conversation on community and how we use public spaces. The bees and butterflies weaving through the flowers remind us of the vital task of caring for one another. For Project Attica, creating this mural was an act of increasing our sensibility to the interconnectedness of nature and the role that we play in caring for that balance amongst ourselves.

This exhibition is presented by Project Attica.

Hey Neighbor NYC connects New Yorkers across cultural communities and boroughs using photographic portrait-making, conversations, and public art. New Yorkers from all five boroughs were nominated by cultural hubs in their communities because they are a ‘connector’ – someone who brings people together through organizing, advocacy or fellowship.

This exhibition is made possible by the Art in the Parks: Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park Grant, which supports the creation of site-specific public artworks by Queens-based artists for two sites within Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

This sculpture is based on origami studies and is composed of broken steel planes that cause the sculpture to change and come to life with sunlight. It reflects in an abstract way the fractal system of matter, looking for a simplicity that reflects the interior of every being. It is a work inspired in the study of the nature, in particular of a shell: the volume is reduced to its fractal structure, to it geometry.

This mural by Queens-based artist Carla E. Reyes transforms a retaining wall into a sunny landscape lined with leafy trees.