Art in the Parks

American Gold: A Ship of Human Bondage is an Augmented Reality (AR) installation based on slave ships and enslaved people. The installation describes the captives as figures made of gold. American Gold aims to draw attention to the monetary value of captives and the inhumane treatment of African captives. American Gold makes the slave ship an almost invisible structure that floats above the viewer, giving the viewer a glimpse of how many people were squeezed into a slaving vessel from below. The installation is part of a larger series of art installations about slavery called Slavery Trails, placed at historical sites throughout the United States.

Birth of Islands, is composed of slick, blade-like foam-coated resin elements that emanate outward from the pores of a muddy, gray ceramic stump. When visiting New York, Solar-Abboud was struck by the landscape—building after building rising from the soil in a fight for prominence, just as vegetation in the forest combats for sunlight in order to survive. Birth of Islands refers to this competitive ecosystem, while also evoking human anatomy: two yellow, tongue-like emanations have seemingly tunneled their way from underground onto the High Line. The forms are spoon-like in their appearance, concave or convex, depending on one’s vantage point. The result appears simultaneously post-human and primordial, sophisticated and elementary—a representation of our own unending transformation alongside nature's ever evolving state.

This exhibition is presented by the High Line.

The works on view on the High Line were produced by the artist for this exhibition. Since 2020 Jackson has constructed several monumental, slotted steel sculptures, largely based on smaller works of his from the late 1990s. The artist honors his utilitarian material, and yet the painted, cut, and pockmarked surfaces animate the sculptures beyond their material properties. On view at the Western Rail Yards, Oliver Lee Jackson’s energetic work complements the section’s simple gravel pathway and original self-seeded, wild landscape.

This exhibition is presented by Friends of the High Line.

Aleia marks the second phase of interactive public artworks for the Culture, Creativity, and Care initiative by Harlem Grown. These public artworks play an important role in the community, doubling as spaces for respite, gathering, and connection. Aleia, a name that has multicultural origins meaning “ascendant”, and “exalted,” was chosen for the piece, which sits high atop the Mt. Morris Acropolis at the center of Marcus Garvey Park.

The main structure is shaped and sits atop a 32-foot semi-circular stage. Inspired by Sankofa’s modular system, the design conceptually breaks apart and reaches out, allowing for several pieces of Aleia to form a meandering Storywalk of steel totems that lead park goers up the stairs to the new installation. The centerpiece of the bright and youthful design are five paintings by the Harlem-based artist, Thomas Heath.

This exhibition is sponsored by Harlem Grown’s Culture Creativity & Care Initiative.

​This exhibition of nine monumental sculptures features new bronze and marble pieces from French sculptor Bruno Catalano‘s "Travellers" series. The works pay particular attention to the relationship between sculpture and the textiles, folds, and colors that are key features of Catalano’s work. Models of bags, luggage and suitcases, as well as garments, and even the artist's clay-covered aprons allow the public a view behind the scenes of creation.

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

A series of five sculptures placed throughout Stuyvesent Square, Blooming Reflections celebrates indigenous plants and highlights the efforts of community members to bring these types of flora back to the park. The sculptures are silhouetted depictions of several species of flowers: Iris Versicolor, Purple Clematis, Smooth White Beardtongue, Swamp Rose Mallow, and Yellow Trout Lily. Artist Lee Tal created the works in polished aluminum that reflects the natural surroundings and the viewing audience, reminding us of our interconnectedness. The sculptures are designed to engage the community with beauty but also provide new information on the value of indigenous plantings.

This exhibition is presented by the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association.

For the High Line, Hsu presents car-grass-screen-2 and car-body-screen-2, two biomorphic forms constructed out of resin-wrapped foam. The cars’ shapes, with their soft edges and curved surfaces, appear entirely organic but for their glitching, screen-like skins. In the skin of car-grass-screen-2, Hsu includes a scannable QR code, which directly connects the sculptural form to both the virtual and physical realm—via the interface of the phone and the viewer’s hand holding the phone. Scanning the code prompts a video that echoes the grass and perforated metal screen featured on the sculpture’s surface, layered with peephole-style footage of grass, soil, and human skin and orifices. The ability to change the content connected to the QR code from virtual space reinforces Hsu’s interest in hybridity, in which the work is both fixed and open-ended, physical and cyber.

This exhibition is presented by the High Line.