Central Park

Last Chance To See The Last 40 Years Of Public Art In Public Parks

Parks & Recreation invites you to experience the Arsenal Gallery’s current exhibit, The Outdoor Gallery: 40 Years of Public Art in New York City Parks, before it closes on November 23, 2007. This indoor component of Parks & Recreation’s 40th anniversary celebration of public art is a retrospective overview of art in parks from 1967 to present day and like the work it celebrates, it too is temporary. The exhibit takes visitors on a chronological journey and allows them to revisit projects they might have forgotten or haven’t seen and to view objects that are rarely, if ever, exhibited.

The show includes 48 archival photographs that are often works of art in their own right, original drawings and models that provide a sense of process and memorabilia of public art in parks since 1967. It celebrates the creativity of New York’s artistic community and explores the meaning of public art. Many of the pieces are hidden gems, rarely on view for the public—drawings of The Gates by Christo, a model of Roxy Paine’s stainless steel Conjoined and Keith Haring’s uplifting self-portrait sculpture are all from private collections. Other memorabilia such as newsletters, announcement cards, archival catalogues and posters discovered in Parks’ archives are on display for the first time.

The outdoor component of the anniversary celebration presents 40 temporary art installations at parks, playgrounds and traffic triangles throughout the five boroughs—the most installations ever on display at a single time in the parks. Like the gallery exhibit, “Art in the Parks: Celebrating 40 Years” mirrors the diversity of the program’s history. Several exhibitors such as Tony Smith, Keith Haring, Tom Otterness, Socrates Sculpture Park and Roxy Paine are featured in both the gallery and outdoor exhibitions. Other works provide striking comparisons to past exhibits such as Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle’s Machines and Nanas in 1968 to Cameron Gainer’s Nessie currently on display in Marine Park and Robert Taplin’s interactive viewfinders of 1977 to Seth Weiner’s thermal optic myOpticon on display in Bowling Green.

An accompanying booklet by Parks’ Director of Art and Antiquities Jonathan Kuhn, who also curated the gallery exhibit, provides a comprehensive history of public art in New York City parks from the inception of Parks temporary public art program in 1967 to present day. Through text, photographs and a timeline, various events and works are placed in the context of the evolution of public art.

The Arsenal Gallery is located on the third floor of the Parks Department Headquarters, in Central Park, on Fifth Avenue at 64th Street. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. except for municipal holidays. Admission is free.

Know Before You Go

Harlem Meer Center (formerly Lasker Rink)

Harlem Meer Center