Each year, Socrates Sculpture Park selects artists to produce outdoor artworks within the Park. Reflective of our time, these artists are making public sculptures that are subtly mysterious, visually compelling, and, at times, provocative. The economy, spirituality, Americana, language, and our built/natural world are subjects explored in this presentation of emerging artists to watch. Rather than being a zeitgeist or thematic exhibition, each artist has a distinct artwork (and in some cases performance) that embodies his or her in... Read more

Each year, Socrates Sculpture Park selects artists to produce outdoor artworks within the Park. Reflective of our time, these artists are making public sculptures that are subtly mysterious, visually compelling, and, at times, provocative. The economy, spirituality, Americana, language, and our built/natural world are subjects explored in this presentation of emerging artists to watch. Rather than being a zeitgeist or thematic exhibition, each artist has a distinct artwork (and in some cases performance) that embodies his or her individuality, passion, and exploration of art in the public sphere. Projects include a 1965 Ford Mustang painted white with corn rowed racing stripes, slabs of cast concrete snapped from compression, a transparent Buddha and a stunning 30 foot flag pole woven with security straps are among the sculptures in the exhibition.

Unique to anywhere in New York City, artists are awarded a grant and a residency in the Park’s outdoor studio and receive technical support to facilitate the production of new outdoor sculptures for exhibition in the Park. The artists develop their projects throughout the summer in the open studio and on-site in the landscape, offering visitors the opportunity to experience the creation of the works that are then installed in the Park. The sculptural works in this exhibition are presented in a heavily used public park in an ethnically diverse community and situated within a beautiful waterfront area of Queens with views of the Manhattan skyline.

The 2012 Emerging Artists are: Jarrod Beck, Melissa Calderon, Cui Fei, Brent Everett Dickinson, Sarah Dornner, Tamar Ettun, Jessica Feldman, Ben Hall, Charles Harlan, Hugh Hayden, Chang-Jin Lee, Fernando Mastrangelo, Bundith Phunsombatlert, Jeff Williams, and Seldon Yuan.

Emerging Artist Fellows are selected annually by curators who have singular knowledge of contemporary art. The 2012 Selection Committee members are:

- Tom Eccles, noted curator and Executive Director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard (2005-present). From 2006-2010, Eccles was the curatorial adviser to the Park Avenue Armory, during which time he was a “correspondent” for the Venice Biennale, 2009. For nearly a decade, Eccles was Director of the Public Art Fund in New York City (1996-2005) where he curated more than 100 exhibitions and organized numerous outdoor projects in collaboration with major New York City institutions.

- Eric Heist was the Founder and Director of Momenta Art, an artist-run institution that seeks to expand the dialogue of art by showing work by young artists or artists’ who are not well represented in commercial galleries. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Pratt Institute (2007 to present).