New York, NY: January 27, 2011… In New York City’s beloved Central Park, people from all walks of life come out to play on the grassy fields on any sunny day. There is a bond amongst the strangers, an unspoken camaraderie, a shared relaxation and also a shared excitement. One feels safe here... Read more
New York, NY: January 27, 2011… In New York City’s beloved Central Park, people from all walks of life come out to play on the grassy fields on any sunny day. There is a bond amongst the strangers, an unspoken camaraderie, a shared relaxation and also a shared excitement. One feels safe here in this space, somehow shielded by an unseen force field of energy. This seems to protect the group from any outside intrusions, and indeed for a time from the challenges of their daily lives. Balloons, food vendors, frisbees and kites all become part of the spectacle of the protected space. Even planes passing overhead, which in a different context could take on an ominous tone, become not just neutral, but beautiful optical diversions, adding to the joyous mood of the field.
In force field photographer Ed Lederman exhibits a 44 foot print of Central Park, which virtually surrounds visitors as they enter the gallery. Lederman has spent the last nine months in Central Park shooting images for what he hopes will become the ultimate photo book of Manhattan’s most beloved green space.
Kathleen Schneider’s Petals and Wings series, on view in force field, continues the sculptor’s engagement with locating gesture and motion (implied action, stopped-action) in sculptures that are hand-made, discrete, and expansive. Each sculptural piece embodies the characteristics of simultaneity by featuring “equal and opposing actions happening at the same time”. Each fluctuates, in materials and meaning, between the recognizable and the abstract.
Schneider’s Bouquets are spherical clusters, 4’ and 5’ in diameter, that hang suspended from the ceiling. They are “explosive” masses of color made of multitudes of deconstructed artificial flowers (petals) sprouting from structural cores. Bouquet I has knotted wire helicopters embedded in its lush array. Bouquet II, densely packed with “petaled “wires spiraling from a dark center, appears to be arrested in the activity of growing and unraveling. Spanwing, Schneider’s large wall installation, is made up of a complex network of regular and irregular displays of flower-patterned paper airplanes intertwined in a wing-like formation. It shimmers and hovers against the wall. Up close the folded units come into focus as F-35 fighter planes.
The Petals and Wings sculptures are intended to give pleasure. Brilliant colors and richly articulated surfaces seduce the viewer to come close. A sinister twist, often camouflaged into or under the tactile surfaces, contradicts the desire to touch.
