Central Park

STRATA On View In The Arsenal Gallery

NYC Parks is pleased to present STRATA, an exhibition of prints, ceramics and collages by Marie Lorenz, Katy Fischer and Max Warsh. The artists in STRATA collect and arrange found or invented artifacts from the urban environment, including river flotsam, ceramic shards, and architectural details, through various modes of discovery. They use their collections as source material for multilayered, abstract compositions that reframe our familiar surroundings and challenge the division between man-made and organic in favor of a more seamless view of the material world. STRATA is on view in the Arsenal Gallery now through April 24, 2014.

Marie Lorenz creates large scale, collograph prints from objects she collects on her excursions through New York City’s waterways. In this new series of prints, Lorenz engages with the mysterious paths the objects have traveled by repeatedly printing the elements in ornate circular patterns, which evoke both tidal vortexes and folk art medallions.
Katy Fischer’s ceramic sculpture is reminiscent of archeological discoveries. She is inspired by the way ancient artifacts become evocatively abstract shapes once they are broken, weathered and displaced, not unlike the bits of debris deposited around the city. The shard-like fragments read as both found and made, broken and whole, abstract and representational and suggest intriguing connections and possible histories.

On his walks around the city, Max Warsh photographs architectural facades, which are used as source material for his work. For these new pieces, Warsh photographed buildings in the neighborhood that surrounds the Arsenal. He then reconfigures these found textures, grooved surfaces and cast ornamental details in his studio through cutting, painting and collage to arrive at compositions that reinvigorate our engagement with the visual language of the urban landscape.
In the work of all three artists, the fragment points to a larger more complete whole and a sense that a sum of the parts does or could exist. However each artist works to evade the reveal: we never see the whole building, the actual found object, or the unbroken pot. Rather, these fragmented compositions convey the way memory is an amalgamated fiction rather than a knowable fact.

In conjunction with STRATA , Audra Wolowiec will present the sound installation Weather Language on April 14, 2014 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Arsenal. The sound piece will be composed of a mixture of found sounds and vocal interventions that are sensitive to both the Arsenal site and the city at large. Wolowiecs’ voice will overlap with the voices of strangers she encountered while walking through the city, creating a sound environment that is as subtle and ambiguous as the weather.
The Arsenal Gallery is dedicated to examining themes of nature, urban space, wildlife, New York City parks and park history. It 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. Admission is free. For more information on the Arsenal Gallery, please call 212-360-8163.

Know Before You Go

Harlem Meer Center (formerly Lasker Rink)

Harlem Meer Center