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Press
Release
Participating
Artists
Sponsorship
Location
For the first time in recent
history, the Public Art Fund and the Whitney Museum of American
Art co-curated a major exhibition in Central Park as part of the
Whitney Museum's 2002 Biennial Exhibition. Artists Keith
Edmier, Roxy Paine,
Kiki Smith, Kim
Sooja, and Brian
Tolle were commissioned to make dynamic new work suited for
specific sites within Central Park. Together, these five installations
represented a broad overview of contemporary approaches to public
art that were both thought-provoking and accessible to the largest
possible audience.
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Keith
Edmier - Emil Dobbelstein and Henry J. Drope, 1944
Edmier's
Emil Dobbelstein and Henry J. Drope, 1944 was a seemingly
conventional war memorial to his grandfathers, who both served
in the Second World War. Edmier used personal narrative to
complicate public notions of bravery, heroism and loss.
More about this
project... |
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Roxy
Paine - Bluff
Bluff,
a fifty-foot high tree made of brilliantly reflective stainless
steel, mimicked the shape and size of nearby trees. However,
Paine's tree remained unchanged as the natural world around
it shifted from winter to spring, reminding us that Central
Park is an artificial environment--a product of both city
planners and Mother Nature.
More about this project... |
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Kiki
Smith - Sirens and Harpies
Smith
assembled twenty bronze sculptures, each bearing the head
of a woman and the body of a bird. Sirens and Harpies
were stoic gatekeepers and part of a menagerie more magical
than the familiar animals inside Central Park's zoo.
More about this project... |
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Kim
Sooja - Deductive Object
Sooja's
Deductive Object was a vibrantly colorful installation
made of Korean bed coverings. These textiles, traditionally
given to newly married couples as a promise of long life and
happiness, highlighted the formal beauty and emotional potency
of everyday materials.
More about this project... |
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Brian
Tolle - Waylay
Waylay
consisted of a series of scattered splashes, some tiny and
some stronger, which appeared to be caused by someone skipping
a rock across the water. To achieve the subtle playfulness
of the piece, Tolle created an invisible underwater system
of compressed air valves.
More about this project... |
Sponsorship
The Whitney Biennial in
Central Park, organized by the Public Art Fund, was sponsored
by Bloomberg. The exhibition received additional support from City
of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, Cultural Challenge Grant
2002, The Third Millennium Foundation, and Melissa and Robert Soros.
Keith Edmier's Emil Dobbelstein and Henry J. Drope, 1944
was a project of the Public Art Fund program In
the Public Realm, which was supported by the National Endowment
for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, a State
Agency, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the
Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, The Greenwall Foundation,
The Jerome Foundation, The Silverweed Foundation, The JPMorgan
Chase Foundation, and friends of the Public Art Fund.
Location
Beginning at the corner of 59th
Street and Fifth Avenue at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, parkgoers
were able to view each of the five works in one visit, proceeding
from the park's southeast entrance to the Lake just north of the
72nd Street transverse, and exiting the park near the Whitney
Museum of American Art.
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