Art in the Parks

Description:

Portals of Remembrance features three new monuments in augmented reality (AR) created by renowned contemporary artists. This exhibition honors and illuminates the stories of underrepresented figures within the HIV/AIDS movement through three virtual monuments created by celebrated artists, Derek Fordjour, Jacolby Satterwhite, Tourmaline, and Egyptt LaBeija, reimagining the New York City AIDS Memorial as a dynamic site of memory and empowerment.

Derek Fordjour’s Cellular Chaser draws inspiration from his acclaimed Black jockey series, using the imagery of the jockey and horse to explore themes of hypervisibility, death, disappearance, and stalled progress. Expanding on the themes from Tourmaline’s short film Atlantic is a Sea of Bones and Egyptt LaBeija’s enduring legacy, their work creates an experience that is both a tribute and a testament to personal and collective histories of Black queer and trans resilience. Jacolby Satterwhite’s You Make Me Feel Mighty Real is a tribute to Sylvester, the trailblazer who revolutionized mainstream music with unapologetic, Black, queer humanity and jubilance.

This exhibition is presented by the NYC AIDS Memorial and Kinfolk.

Description:
For the fourth High Line Plinth commission, Ivan Argote presents Dinosaur (2024), a colossal, hyper-realistic sculpture of a pigeon cast in aluminum. The meticulously hand-painted, humorous sculpture challenges the grandeur of traditional monuments celebrating significant historical figures, instead choosing to canonize the familiar New York City street bird. Posed on a concrete plinth that resembles the sidewalks and buildings that New York’s pigeons call home, Dinosaur reverses the typical power dynamic between bird and human, towering 21 feet above the Spur, over the countless pedestrians and car drivers that travel down 10th Avenue. 

Description:
​For the High Line, Shani presents The Sun Is a Flame That Haunts The Night, a series of three candlesticks, a recurring motif in her work. Each almost cartoon-like candlestick is rendered here in urethane resin with a glass flame that glows at night. For Shani, whose work often explores themes of spirituality, mortality, and mythology, the candle holds many meanings. Though melting candles often represent the passage of time, The Sun Is a Flame That Haunts The Night stays forever lit, paused on the High Line—a respite where one loses sense of time and space.

Description:

Originally created for an exhibition at Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland, the ten-foot-tall sculpture takes the shape of a giant pink foot and lower leg topped with a working sprinkler. The creature-like work is playfully dotted with tongues sticking out from small lipsticked mouths, and each toenail is painted haphazardly with bright red nail polish. Foot Fountain (pink) is activated by pedals installed nearby. It irreverently reimagines traditional fountains, which are often placed in the center of squares or gardens with water that is self-contained. Instead, Foot Fountain (pink) interacts more intimately with its surroundings, using water to nourish both the place and the people around it.

 

This exhibition is presented by The High Line.

Description:
​For the High Line, Marakatt-Labba presents Urmodern, which translates to “primordial mother.” Sámi mythology is based on the belief that every stone, plant, and body of water has its own spirit. It teaches that the cosmos and the earth were created and are protected by goddesses, emphasizing the pivotal role of women in Sámi culture. Through this lens, Urmodern serves as a representation of these female deities. The boulder-like base of the work is made of granite, topped with the head of the goddess rendered in bronze. Marakatt-Labba’s contribution to the High Line underscores the importance of environmental stewardship on a global stage, engaging audiences in critical dialogues about Indigenous rights and feminism.

Description:
​Civic Vision is an interactive viewfinder seeking to inspire mutual understanding of the blind and visually impaired in urban life. Curated by urban spontaneity, passersby are encouraged to experience a simulation of America’s four most common eye conditions.

Description:
​In his Liths series, which are on view along Broadway, D’Alvia pushes the boundaries of sculpture with monumental painted aluminum works that blend toughness with vulnerability, humor with gravity. Inspired by ancient monoliths and 1970s artists such as Alexander Calder and Tony Smith, the artist transforms the traditional statue into something more animated and human. Each piece, coated in vibrant automotive paint, takes on distinct personalities. These sculptures combine the weight of historical monumentality with a whimsical, almost comedic character, bringing new life to the medium.

 

This exhibition is presented by HESSE FLATOW and the Broadway Mall Association.

Description:
​Now in its second year, Harlem Sculpture Garden is a multi-site exhibition, curated to spread joy and beauty within the Harlem community. The exhibition includes artworks by a diverse array of artists working in a variety of media. Artists exhibiting in Morningside Park include Abigail Regner, Motohiro Takeda, Graciela Cassel, Michael Levchenko, Michael Poast, and a collaborative installation by Peter Miller, Savona Bailey-McClain, James Richardson, and Vaiomona Oufil Khalil. In St. Nicholas Park, artworks by Bridget Conway, Ayala Napthali, Joseph Bochynski, Fitgi Saint-Louis, Peter Miller, David Shelton, David Karoff, and Richard Brachman are on view. Further uptown, Jackie Robinson Park hosts works by Dianne Smith, Eunkyung Lee, Michael Poast, Margaret Roleke, Carole Eisner, Luke Schumacher, and An Pham. Additional works by Shervone Neckles and Iliana Emilia Garcia are displayed at Montefiore Park and the Broadway Malls at West 148^th Street, respectively.

 

This exhibition is presented by West Harlem Art Fund and New York Artists Equity Association.

Description:

The exhibition features eight bronzes recently cast from wood sculptures Mosley made between 1996 and 2021. The bronze sculptures range from human scale to the monumental Gate III, while varied patinas and textures preserve the original surfaces as well as the tactile presence of his hand and chisel. Mosley draws on influences as varied as modernist sculpture, his collection of Western African masks, and the genre of jazz, to realize a deeply humanist body of sculptures through distillation, invention, and improvisation.

 

This exhibition is presented by Public Art Fund.

Description:

Acacia Bipod stands as a monument honoring the Indigenous peoples of South Africa. The double helix, ladder, and Acacia tree motifs merge here to reflect growth, ancestry, and interconnectedness.

 

This exhibition is a Lawrence Knight Project presented by New York Artists Equity Association with support from the New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and the West Harlem Art Fund.