Art on the Grid! 50 New York-Based Artists’ Reflections on the Pandemic at 500+ Locations Citywide
Art on the Grid, curated by Public Art Fund Director & Chief Curator Nicholas Baume, Public Art Fund Curator Daniel S. Palmer, and Public Art Fund Assistant Curator Katerina Stathopoulou.
What have 50 New York-based artists been doing during the CoronaVirus lockdown? A lot! Located on bus shelters and LinkNYC digital kiosks throughout the 5 boroughs, artists use art to express their experiences throughout the pandemic and the regional, national and international response to systemic racism, inequality, and the need for change.
Inspiring art and inspiring words from a few of my favorites:
Nina Chanel Abney (b. 1982, Harvey, IL; lives and works in Jersey City, New Jersey) Courtesy the artist and Pace Prints, New York
Abney: “The French creators of the Statue of Liberty intended the statue to be a commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the United States. But black critics were vocal about what they saw as the hypocrisy of a monument to liberty in a land that lacked opportunity. With this in mind, I created this piece imagining a renewed statue reflective of an acknowledged past and an equitable future.”
Firelei Báez (b. 1981, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic; lives and works in the Bronx, New York)
On rest and resistance, Because we love you (to all those stolen from among us), 2020
Báez: “This work is in reference to the 70,000 black women and girls in the United States currently missing. Who continue to be unnamed and uncared for, even though this should be a national crisis. The figure in this painting is inspired by an archival image of civil rights activist Freedom Riders sleeping in church pews taken by photographer Paul Schutzer circa 1961. It is a particularly tender inter-generational scene of women resting and supporting each other. In this place of respite, I center the transformative actions that can show ways beyond the spaces in our culture where care, love, and beauty are not naturally and equitably given.”
María Berrío (b.1982, Bogotá, Colombia; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York) From Such Soil It Blooms, 2020
Berrío: “New York is a city populated by dreamers. Even in our tumultuous present, these dreams are as vivid and abundant as ever. Here, a carpet of flowers symbolizes the constellations of people within the city who help each individual to realize their dreams. The shoulders we stand on are often simply those we stand shoulder to shoulder with: the dreamer is sustained by the same hopes that sustain those around her.”
Namaganda owe Mbogo (Among the Beautiful Girls from the Buffalo Clan) 2020, Leilah Babirey
I particularly loved this work by Leilah Babirey.
Babirey: “The Buffalo clan is one of the strongest clans from where I come from [Uganda]. It is a wood carving and it is a mask. Masks have a lot of very important messages for different people in West Africa, and the reason why I used cans and found material, it goes back to the street life that I started off when I just came here. When I was collecting cans, I didn’t know I can even enter the gallery for free. Many people out there don’t even know galleries, art exists. But right now it’s on the streets for them to see wherever they are, giving hope and words of encouragement.”
Babirey’s story and her message reflect why art matters now more than ever. And from the people on the streets I watched stopping to observe these various pieces of art, clearly art will be part of a greater conservation and just maybe part of a new beginning.
