Photo By Gail
In his body of work, Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976) spotlights the impact of mass criminalization on Black communities in the United States. In Strike (2018), Thomas represents the cyclical violence and resistance inherent in the way Black communities are policed. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Hank Willis Thomas, Strike
Photos By Gail
It’s fun to discover cool public art in and around the City on my daily adventures, even when that art has already been in place for years! For example, I just had my first encounter with XO World, a monumental sculpture located on West Street in Lower Manhattan, adjacent to the World Trade Center. As you can see, it is pretty sweet. Let’s unpack this thing, shall we? Continue reading XO World Sculpture in Lower Manhattan
Photos By Gail
I made my first appointment to get the Covid vaccine on the exact day that NY State opened eligibility for my age group, and was fully vaccinated by April. Being vaccinated allowed me to safely fly across the country to meet up with my sister (who is also vaccinated) for a mind-blowingly fun road trip across the state of Utah, which I will remember for the rest of my life. My time in Utah more than made up for hardly being able to leave my house of the better part a year. I feel that I owe not just my physical health, but the triumphant return of my mental health to the Covid vaccine. Thank god for medical science!
If you’ve already been fully vaccinated, thank you, and please congratulate yourself on doing your part to keep yourself and others safe as we attempt to beat this fucking virus, which as we can see is not backing down so easily.
Continue reading Public Service Announcement: Please Get Vaccinated
All Photos By Gail
On the Friday before Joe Biden’s electoral victory was officially announced, I had a late afternoon appointment near Madison Square Park. It was already twilight when I exited onto Fifth Avenue and 25th Street and I decided to walk home to take advantage of an unseasonably-warm evening and what I think of as the romantic atmosphere imparted by the newly-restored standard time. Darkness at night: what a concept. As I crossed Broadway I noticed a new piece of public art in the park which resembles the Statue of Liberty’s torch, entitled Light of Freedom. New York native Abigail Deville is the artist. I snapped a few photos and then continued on my way.
This past Saturday, I had the chance to check out Light of Freedom in the daylight, where it’s easier to see that the torch’s flame is comprised of disembodied mannequin arms; something which I find very appealing.
Let’s zoom-in for a closer look.
Here’s is an excerpt from Madison Square Park Conservancy’s statement on the piece:
Light of Freedom carries many cogent symbols. DeVille has filled a torch — referring to the Statue of Liberty’s hand holding a torch, which was on view in Madison Square Park from 1876 to 1882 — with a timeworn bell, a herald of freedom, and with the arms of mannequins, beseeching viewers. The scaffold, which prevents access physically and metaphorically, recalls a work site, an insistent image on the urban landscape. But the scaffold is golden, summoning the glory of labor and the luminosity in the struggle that can lead to change. Formative to Light of Freedom are the words of the abolitionist, author, and statesman Frederick Douglass, who proclaimed in an 1857 speech delivered in Canandaigua, New York: “If there is no struggle there is no progress.” The torch refers to the light of democracy and its foundation in ancient systems of government by citizens.
DeVille has described working on this piece: “In my research, I have found that the first Blacks to be brought to New York City were eleven Angolans in 1626. That makes people of African descent the second-oldest group of settlers in New Amsterdam, after the Dutch. Unfortunately, history has erased the contributions and victories of this group. I want to make something that could honor their lives and question what it means to be a New Yorker, past, present, and future.”
Light of Freedom will be on Exhibit in Madison Square Park Through January 31st, 2021, so see it while you can!
Photo By Gail
Louise Bourgeois‘ two hands engaged in an intimate caress sit incongruously on a roughly chiseled, seemingly unfinished base. In the early 1930s, Bourgeois studied with Charles Despiau, one of Auguste Rodin’s assistants; she may well have learned about Rodin’s marble sculptures of hands from Despiau. Later, in 1967-68, she traveled to Pietrasanta, Italy, where she discovered the same marble quarries from which Michelangelo sourced his material. It was at this point that Bourgeois adopted the medium. As the artist once said of the difficult task of working with marble,” you have to win the shape.” Her fight to conquer the block of marble is left visible here in this work from 1996.
Untitled (No. 2) was Photographed in The Met Breuer (former home of The Whitney Museum), in Manhattan, where it is part of the Museum’s Inaugural Exhibit, Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible.