Reported for the Flatiron Hot! News by Katherine Jin
The Madison Square Park Conservancy launched their public art programs in 2004, intending to bring thought-provoking art to the city and engage the community. Since its inception, the program has been critically acclaimed and won public attention due to its ambition and scale. The project expands each year to introduce an increasingly diverse range of innovative, world-class artists. Now on view, just a block from New York City Seminar and Conference Center, is their 36th installation.
A series of elegiac sculptures and structures have been placed in Madison Square Park for the summer, on display until September 3rd. Park goers can view figurative and abstract headless busts, dripping walls, and a mountainous 14-foot-tall sculpture, collectively titled Delirious Matter by artist Diana Al-Hadid.
The installation, like much of Al-Hadid’s work, is inspired by her love of story and history. “I was educated by modernist instructors in the Midwest, but also raised in an Islamic household with a culture that very much prizes narrative and folklore,” she said. Through these pieces, she traces how women have been depicted in art history as objects of purity or desire, often seen dead, fainting, or sleeping in a giant pile of fabric. Playing off this theme of women in repose, three reclining figures on plinths are scattered throughout the park. Titled Synonym, they appear simultaneously eroding and growing, and have a beauteous, atmospheric narrative.
Two 14-foot-tall lacy wall fragments are integrated with rows of hedges forming a room, suggesting the beauty of deteriorating structures nestled into plant material. Gradiva, the first wall, takes its name from Mars Gradivus, the Roman god who walked into battle, and references a 20-century mythological female character from a novella by Wilhelm Jenson. The protagonist of the novella obsessively projects characteristics and ideals onto a women named Gradiva.
The second wall and the reflecting pond’s sculpture are inspired by a Dutch painting called Allegory of Chastity by Hans Memling. Similar to the painting’s female figure protruding from a mountaintop, Citadel has a sculptural bust of a female figure atop a fragmented mountain. This blending of elements and lack of boundaries is an integral part of Al-Hadid’s work. However, whereas Memling reflects an Early Renaissance trend to depict voluminous skirts that completely engulf the women’s bodies, illustrating the women as fleeting, Citadel is a stable figure.
To carry out this vision, Al-Hadid – who is best known for her signature style that’s a “blend between fresco and tapestry” – dripped a gypsum and fiberglass polymer mixture over her existing works, Antonym. The toughness and resilience of this material contrasts with the sense of fragility and delicacy the works give off, forming an essential dichotomy in the project. The organic-looking sculptures also contrast with the heavy, blockish skyscrapers surrounding Madison Square Park.
These hauntingly beautiful pieces are a must-see in the Flatiron district, and are perfect for a calm, scenic walk after your event at NYCSCC.
NYC Theater News
Elegiac Sculptures Comment on History, Boundaries, and Depictions of Women
Reported for the Flatiron Hot! News by Katherine Jin
The Madison Square Park Conservancy launched their public art programs in 2004, intending to bring thought-provoking art to the city and engage the community. Since its inception, the program has been critically acclaimed and won public attention due to its ambition and scale. The project expands each year to introduce an increasingly diverse range of innovative, world-class artists. Now on view, just a block from New York City Seminar and Conference Center, is their 36th installation.
A series of elegiac sculptures and structures have been placed in Madison Square Park for the summer, on display until September 3rd. Park goers can view figurative and abstract headless busts, dripping walls, and a mountainous 14-foot-tall sculpture, collectively titled Delirious Matter by artist Diana Al-Hadid.
The installation, like much of Al-Hadid’s work, is inspired by her love of story and history. “I was educated by modernist instructors in the Midwest, but also raised in an Islamic household with a culture that very much prizes narrative and folklore,” she said. Through these pieces, she traces how women have been depicted in art history as objects of purity or desire, often seen dead, fainting, or sleeping in a giant pile of fabric. Playing off this theme of women in repose, three reclining figures on plinths are scattered throughout the park. Titled Synonym, they appear simultaneously eroding and growing, and have a beauteous, atmospheric narrative.
Two 14-foot-tall lacy wall fragments are integrated with rows of hedges forming a room, suggesting the beauty of deteriorating structures nestled into plant material. Gradiva, the first wall, takes its name from Mars Gradivus, the Roman god who walked into battle, and references a 20-century mythological female character from a novella by Wilhelm Jenson. The protagonist of the novella obsessively projects characteristics and ideals onto a women named Gradiva.
The second wall and the reflecting pond’s sculpture are inspired by a Dutch painting called Allegory of Chastity by Hans Memling. Similar to the painting’s female figure protruding from a mountaintop, Citadel has a sculptural bust of a female figure atop a fragmented mountain. This blending of elements and lack of boundaries is an integral part of Al-Hadid’s work. However, whereas Memling reflects an Early Renaissance trend to depict voluminous skirts that completely engulf the women’s bodies, illustrating the women as fleeting, Citadel is a stable figure.
To carry out this vision, Al-Hadid – who is best known for her signature style that’s a “blend between fresco and tapestry” – dripped a gypsum and fiberglass polymer mixture over her existing works, Antonym. The toughness and resilience of this material contrasts with the sense of fragility and delicacy the works give off, forming an essential dichotomy in the project. The organic-looking sculptures also contrast with the heavy, blockish skyscrapers surrounding Madison Square Park.
These hauntingly beautiful pieces are a must-see in the Flatiron district, and are perfect for a calm, scenic walk after your event at NYCSCC.