I chose to look at Judith Modrak’s “Our Memories” (2018-2019) for the Public Art installation in Thomas Paine Park, the gay liberation monument memorial (created 1980, installed 1992) by George Segal in Christopher Park and Alice in Wonderland monument (1959) by José de Creeft in Central Park. I chose to look at these three artworks because each piece is centered around the interactions between people in New York and celebrate the lives of those who live in New York or come here to visit.
“Our Memories” by Judith Modrak is located in Thomas Paine Park and it will be on display from May 2018 – March 2019. It is funded by the NYC Parks’ Art in the parks program and many private donors. The inspiration for this public art installation was color-coded “memory stones” that are added into the sculpture by the audience to mimic neurons and therefore share their memories visually. The community reception was very positive and it allows the audience to interact with it. The artwork was effective in creating a physical manifestation of memories. If I could change anything about this, I would perhaps use glass for the body/container of the stones so that the colors from the memory stones would be more visible/vibrant. The research put behind this piece by the artist was mainly focused on creating the memory stones and trying to think about ways she could introduce interaction into the piece. This piece is related to New York in that New York is a very global city and many people could come and deposit their memories.
The gay liberation monument memorial was created in 1980 and installed in 1992 by George Segal in Christopher Park. It was funded by the Mildred Andrews Fund and the piece was inspired by the gay liberation movement. The community reception was positive as the design was approved by them beforehand. This memorial is effective because to this day many people come to put flowers around and it achieved its purpose of showing the public that the gay liberation movement was able to give comfort and freedom to the LGBTQ community. If I could change anything about this piece, I would make the body language of the two couples more intimate. Peter Putnam commissioned this installation and did a lot of research in order to find the right artist (Segal) to create this statue. This memorial is related to NYC because the gay liberation movement happened in New York at the Stonewall Inn.
Alice in Wonderland monument was created by José de Creeft and was commissioned by George Delacorte (who also funded this monument). It is located in Central Park and was created and installed in 1959. This monument was inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. José de Creeftput researched more about this children’s novel to create a monument about it. The monument is also a tribute to Delacorte’s wife Margarita who often read this book to their children. This monument is related to NYC because it is situated in it and its a gift to the children of New York. The community reception was very positive and this monument was effective in achieving its goal of being a gift to the children of NYC because many kids love to play on top of the monument. If I could change anything, I would make the monument span over a larger area and perhaps make this monument safer to play on top of.
The concept of finding a way to visually and artistically represent memories is something all three artworks share. “Our memories” was made to celebrate the memories of the audience who were there on the day it was installed through colored “memory stones” such that each color represented an emotion. The gay liberation monument was commissioned to remember the gay liberation movement and to express the comfort and freedom the homosexual community now has in New York. Alice in Wonderland is a monument dedicated to the children of New York and a tribute to George Delacorte’s wife Margarita who would often read this book to their children.
All the piece were responded to positively by the community and relates deeply to New York city through the people and events that happened here.
