A troop of Christopher Walken heads have sprouted from the dirt at the Socrates Sculpture Park, looking a bit like mushrooms under the trees by the coffee stand. Over in the park's grove, a well-used Jeep Comanche—painted safari khaki, license plate "AMAMML"—has been taken over by a kaleidoscope of butterflies. And what looks like the foundation of a small, ruined structure is, upon closer inspection, a new gathering place made from the reclaimed bricks of nearby buildings demolished by development.
These works and a dozen others make up the annual Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition at the Long Island City outdoor institution, which opened last week and runs through March. And while the message and materials in the sculptures are wildly diverse, all in some way touch upon issues that are relevant to the park's past, present, or future.
In addition to the Walken piece by Bryan Zanisnik (note: Walken was born in Queens, hence the connection), AMAMML by Andrew Brehm, and Liene Bosqué's brick work described above, other highlights of the exhibition include a flashing roadside sign by Sable Elyse Smith with an unexpected message; Lea Cetera's "Design Within Reach", for which she counterfeits a trio of iconic designer chairs in study, outdoor materials for all to enjoy; and the sinking (or rising) text of Galeria Perdida's "All Else Is Pale", which reads simply MORE LIGHT.
EAF16: Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition will be on display through March 12th, 2017. Socrates Sculpture Park is located at 3201 Vernon Boulevard at the western terminus of Broadway in Long Island City, and is open every day from 10 a.m. to sunset. The XXX Coffee stand, which also sells Doughnut Plant goods, is there on the weekends, probably through the end of November.
