Tuesday, August 1, 2023 – FROM OUR ISLAND TO THE OTHER BOROUGHS, GREAT ART

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2023

ISSUE#  1049

MUST-SEE NYC ART

INSTALLATIONS, AUGUST 2023

 JULIA CHORUN

UNTAPPED NEW YORK

 Double Take on Roosevelt Island

Diana Cooper’s massive new mosiac on Roosevelt Island, titled Double Take, was inspired by her experience of traveling through the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, an artificial urban enviornment, and emerging into the natrual waterways and greenery of New Jersey. When she visited the location where her mural would be, on an MTA building across from the F train subway stop, she realized how similair the experience for riders arriving to Roosevelt Island would be to her own. The visuals in her mosaic take cues from the architecture of Roosevelt Island including the Roosevelt Island tram, the FDR Memorial, and the Queensboror Bridge, as well as the East River. In her abstract peice, she combines the organic shapes and colors of Roosevelt Islan’s trees and waterways with those of the built urban enviornemnt and transit system.

 Art at Amtrak in Penn Station

Photo Courtesy of Amtrak

Amtrak is continuing its celebrated Art at Amtrak public art program with two new art installations by Shoshanna Weinberger and David Rios Ferreira in New York Penn Station. Weinberg’s piece, titled Traveling Along Horizons, will cover the Amtrak 8^th Avenue concourse columns with figures symbolizing marginalized bodies. It depicts the way in which civilization measures time and travel between sunrise and sunset, with stripes that signify social division imposed by race, class, and ethnicity. 

Ferreira’s contribution, Get Carried Away, You Have the Right, will transform the Amtrak rotunda into a cosmic gateway with pillars of temporal beings that blur the line between abstract and figurative art. The images included in the piece, along with imagery from Amtrack’s own archive, show different maps, train cars, and ticket stubs. The focus of the creation is Indigenous and Afro-Futurist imagery. On August 1, this fourth installment of Art at Amtrak will replace Derrick Adams’ six-month installation, which will become an animation on a 160-foot-wide LED digital screen above the main concourse at Moynihan Train Hall. The two new art installations will remain on view until January 2024. 

Plastic Chandeliers on Park Avenue

Have you seen the four shining chandeliers that decorate Park Avenue from 69th to 70th Street? These interior design favorites are usually constructed with crystals and candles, but artist Willie Cole chose a more relatable and layered medium: plastic. The 4 part series is made from 9,000 recycled water bottles and recycled, “found objects”, with a statement in favor of second-life materials and mindful city trash usage. Each fixture has its own name and design, inspired by the author’s personal experiences and the installation’s location. If you happen to find Liberty Lantern, you’ll notice that each bottle is filled with one image of New York’s own Lady Liberty. Willie Cole’s chandeliers will be on display through the end of the year and more of his indoor work can be viewed at museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. 

The Book of HOV at The Brooklyn Public Library

Photo by Gregg Richards, Courtesy of the Brooklyn Public Library

You can’t miss the grand, open-paged book that sits on the exterior of The Central Branch of The Brooklyn Public Library, with song lyrics from a New York rapper you’re sure to know. For all the music lovers, but especially all the Jay-Z lovers, The Book of HOV exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum is a once-in-a-lifetime visiting opportunity. Curated and produced by Jay-Z’s own Roc Nation, this first-ever in-house, tribute exhibit features over 300 donated books from Jay-Z’s personal collection, never-seen-before photos and murals, as well as a full-sized replica of the recording studio where the rapper produced some of his greatest hits. 

The Central Branch has even created 13 limited edition library cards, each with art from one of Jay Z’s iconic albums that you can collect and use! The exhibit is presented in chapters, so viewers are free to walk through the library and explore on their own time. The experience doesn’t interfere with the regular functions of the library, so whether you’re passing through in search of a particular book, or going only for the exhibit, curiosity and musical inspiration will be your guide!

My Neighbor’s Garden in Madison Square Park

Photo by Rashmi Gill

There’s a web-like entanglement of hand woven crochet hanging 95 feet in the air in Madison Square Park. Artist, Sheila Pepe, has created her first outdoor exhibition, My Neighbor’s Garden, which opened on June 26 and will be on view until December 10, 2023. The structure features welcoming gateways and canopies in bright tones of pinks, oranges, reds and purples. .The design, created by Pepe in close collaboration with MSPC’s horticulture team, is enchanced by vining plants such as bitter melon and morning glory, which weave around and through the crocheted constructions. 

Not only is the structure optimistic, colorful, and unexpected to a park visitor, but it also makes a statement about women’s craft practice and inclusion. The sheer scale of the project required Pepe to recruit and gather small, lively groups of friends and strangers interested in crocheting together to help produce the installation. Crochet sessions with the artist will continue across the summer months in the park as part of a range of public programs.

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TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

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WEEKEND PHOTO

ARON EISENPREISS SENT US THIS VIDEO SUBWAY ADS SEE LINK BELOW TO YOUTUBE

Subway Sun” – subway etiquette by Oppy (Amelia Opdyke Jones).  There’s a nice presentation by the Transit Museum and Poster House available on Youtube.

THE VIEW OF “DOUBLE TAKE” FROM THE ROOF OF THE SUBWAY STATION.
TO SEE MORE OF DIANA COOPER’S ART AND PHOTOGRAPHS CHECK OUT HER WEBSITE:
dianacooper.net 

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff

All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated

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UNTAPPED NEW YORK

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