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For immediate release Public Art Fund presents… Mark Handforth's At Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park
April 24 - June 6, 2003 New York, New York - The Public Art Fund is pleased to present Mark Handforth's Lamppost, the first outdoor work in the artist's singular series of twisted lamppost sculptures. As its straightforward name suggests, Lamppost is a massive industrial streetlight - originally 45 feet tall - that is folded in two places so it rests on the ground, leaning on its five-point crown of red glowing lights. Sited at the southeast corner of Central Park, Lamppost retains some small part of its original function - lighting a public space - but does so in a way that is at once dramatic and humorous.Mark Handforth's Lamppost pieces-a recurring subject throughout his career-are made from the same gigantic industrial fixtures that go almost unnoticed high above our heads on streets and highways. In his gallery and museum practice, Handforth has bent and twisted these unwieldy items into interior spaces, creating a contemporary response to Claes Oldenburg's oversized soft sculptures or even Tony Smith's angular constructions. But Lamppost is not simply a new twist on monumental Pop or Minimalist sculpture: Handforth's interest is in the ingrained cultural value of designed objects, and in exploring the possibility that a single object can exist simultaneously on sculptural, functional, and social levels. At Doris C. Freedman Plaza, the large features of the grounded lamp seem absurd, bordering on surreal, as if Lamppost were an enigmatic prop leftover from a movie shoot. The red lights, which replace the more standard yellow sodium bulbs, produce an ethereal glow. In his wide ranging artistic practice, Handforth extracts utilitarian and found objects from everyday life, recasting them in new ways that emphasize their formal qualities. Viewing the world as full of limitless sculptural possibilities, Handforth has created works that improve upon treasured pop icons-as in Vespa Fountain (2001), a motorbike transformed into a misting fountain-and resuscitate junked technology, as in Dish (Social) (1996), a deactivated satellite dish turned communal lounge chair. Lamppost will be on view daily at Doris C. Freedman
Plaza, 60th Street and Fifth Avenue. About the Artist About Doris C. Freedman Plaza About In the Public Realm About the 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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