LMCC Grantee and Workspace alumni Zaq Landsberg in Time Out New York, Curbed and more news from LMCC’s artists
LMCC alumni and grantee Zaq Landsberg's "Reclining Liberty" has been featured in Time Out New York, Curbed, and Untapped Cities!
The 25-foot sculpture which Zaq developed during his Workspace 2019-2020 residency is located at the West 120th Street and Morningside Avenue entrance to the park. The sculpture is now on view through April 22, 2022!
"Reclining Liberty is a mashup of the Statue of Liberty and the giant reclining Buddha statues of Asia. The piece, coated in plaster resin, is sturdy enough to allow viewers to touch, climb, sit atop, lean up against the figure, and interact with the monument at a human level. Finished with copper paint and an oxidizing acid, the patina mimics the actual Statue of Liberty.
Reclining Liberty asks the viewer to contemplate the status of the ideals the Statue of Liberty represents. Is the U.S. as an entity forever upright and tall, is it an eventual decline and fall, or is there another stage for the country that will transcend this symbol altogether? After all the events of 2020, and the unmooring of pretty much every American institution, this question is not just theoretical."
Esteban Jefferson's Petit Palais in ARTnews
Another LMCC alumni being featured in the recent news is Esteban Jefferson, a participant of Workspace 2016 – 2017 residency.
Esteban's “Petit Palais” series questions the representation of Black people in Western museums. It was during his first visit to Petit Palais in Paris, in 2014 when he was attracted to two mysterious portrait busts of anonymous Black figures placed behind the information and ticket desk.
While most of the other artworks on display at the museum were accompanied by extensively researched wall texts, these sculptures, carved from polychrome marble, had no attribution and were simply labeled “Buste d’Africain.”
worthless studios’ Plywood Protection Project in New York Times
Check out a piece from The New York Times on LMCC Creative Engagement Grantee, worthless studios, and their Plywood Protection Project, turning plywood from last year's protests into art!
During these peak protest months across New York City, plywood prices skyrocketed to above $90 for one 4’ x 8’ AC plywood board and supply was rapidly depleted citywide. In response, worthless studios launched the Plywood Protection Project, a mission-driven initiative to collect the wood and redistribute it to artists, extending and repurposing the life of this material. worthless studios collected over 200 boards of plywood and initiated an open call for artists, with the intention of selecting five local makers to participate in a unifying public art project across all five boroughs of New York.
After combing through over 200 applications, five artists were selected by worthless studios’ jury. Each has received studio space, tools, fabrication and installation assistance, along with a $2,000 artist stipend and a $500 material budget to create their new works.