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For immediate release Public Art Fund presents… Artist Installs Flying
Carpet in Public Park, Red Hook, Brooklyn Maria Elena González Transforms the Layout of a Typical Unit in the Red Hook East Apartments Into A Vehicle for Hopes and Dreams in Coffey Park May 16, 1999, New York City In contrast to the regularity and rhythm of the urban complex surrounding Coffey Park in Red Hook Brooklyn, Maria Elena González transforms the layout of a typical apartment at the Red Hook East apartments into a magical flying carpet that hovers above ground-level. González's Magic Carpet / Home replicates the floor plan of a six-room unit in Red Hook East Housing, originally designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, (including kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, closets), and visually transforms the apartment layout into a flying carpet. González, known for her ambitious and meticulous use of materials, uses ordinary playground surfacing material to present her rendition of a Red Hook East apartment in an extraordinary way in nearby Coffey Park. Bringing together myth and modern housing units, González says that, "our home, and metaphorically our hopes, can be transported anywhere we choose" through her new public installation. Commissioned through the Public Art Fund's In the Public Realm program for emerging artists, an annual open call to fund artists' public art projects, González was asked to pick a site that was most meaningful to her. In selecting Red Hook, Brooklyn as the location for her sculpture, González chose to work in her own neighborhood creating an artwork that reflects both its location and its audience. The surface of Magic Carpet / Home gently undulates and is installed to appear as though it is floating above the ground. The sculpture stands approximately 1ft above the grassy area on which it is installed, and measures 27ft x 39ft - the size of the actual apartment on which the project is based. The work's surface, made of a soft, fire retardant, black rubber material or 'safety surface' is similar to that used in playgrounds and provides an outdoor-carpet-like texture. The floor plan itself is meticulously rendered on the surface in an opaque white paint and looks like an architect's plan of this domestic space. The materials and form of the work encourage interaction with the project, making Magic Carpet / Home part of Coffey Park's furniture. As with González previous work, such as her site-specific installation at El Museo del Barrio entitled The Persistence of Sorrow, this piece requires public engagement and is dependent on all the senses for its impact. The nubbly, richly textured surface of the playground rubber contrasting with the smooth, thick layer of iridescent white paint and the smell of the material itself all bring the viewer back to playground romping days, evoking daydreams and ideas of a different time and place. Simultaneously, the rubber and paint are reminiscent of asphalt and traffic grids. By combining the visual language of urban streets with this domestic space, González suggests an exchange between interior and exterior. González brings these elements together as Magic Carpet / Home functions as a metaphorical flying carpet, transporting her viewers momentarily away from the flow of daily life. About the Artist: In the Public Realm is made possible through the support of the New York State Council on the Arts, A State Agency, The City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, The Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The Silverweed Foundation and friends of the Public Art Fund. Special thanks to the City of New York/Parks & Recreation About Public Art Fund # # # Contact:
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