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For immediate release Public Art Fund presents… Artist Ron Baron Creates
Striking Installation Baron's Birds rise from the pilings of long-disused Pier 34 WHEN: On View Beginning: July 22nd Opening: August 5th WHAT: Ron Baron gives the Hudson River waterfront a facelift with his latest project entitled Birds. His installation of Nova Scotian lobster buoys on the old pilings of Pier 34 takes inspiration from Constantin Brancusi's famous sculpture Birds in Space. Alluding to Brancusi's elegant forms, Baron uses the traditional carved buoys to represent silhouetted bird-like figures at rest on the Hudson. At low tide the pilings of Pier 34 act as pedestals for the buoys , but as the tide rises the pilings disappear offering only glimpses of the installation. Of this location, Baron says, "When I discovered this site I was instantly drawn to creating a project here. It embodies everything that I find compelling in the objects I collect to create my work; a sense of history and cultural significance, a feeling of loss and abandonment and a strong visual power." Baron's installation functions as a subtle intervention in the riverside landscape, changing in appearance with the ebb and flow of the tides, and reflecting both the traditional past and the renewal of New York's waterfronts. In 1998, Ron Baron was awarded The Greenwall Foundation's Oscar M. Ruebhausen Commission given to an outstanding young artist to create a public work of art. Birds was made possible through the support of this Greenwall Foundation grant. Ron Baron, a Williamsburg artist, culls everyday artifacts from sources ranging from garage sales to thrift stores much like a cultural archaeologist. His sculptures have a geological nature, forming vessels and monuments from strata of castoff objects. He has received awards and fellowships from New York State Foundation for the Arts, Mid Atlantic National Endowment for the Arts, Pollock-Krasner, Yaddo artist-in-residence, and a Lila Wallace-Monet Estate Giverny residency. He has exhibited widely including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Wexner Museum, Configura 2, Erfurt, Germany, Anna Kustera Gallery, The Sculpture Center and Exit Art. Baron has also completed commissions for the New York Percent for Art, Board of Education and Lehman College, Bronx, NY. Interview opportunities with Ron Baron are available by contacting Public Art Fund at 212.980.4575. Images will be available by prior arrangement. Birds is a project of the Public Art Fund, commissioned through In the Public Realm, a program of site-Specific proposals and projects by New York artists. In the Public Realm is supported by the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The Heathcote Foundation, The Silverweed Foundation, The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and friends of the Public Art Fund. This exhibition is made possible through the cooperation and support of the Hudson River Park Conservancy. WHERE: Pier 34, Hudson River at Canal Street About Public Art Fund The Public Art Fund is a non-profit arts organization supported by generous contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations, and with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs. # # # Contact:
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