Fourth Arts Block has announced the five finalists for its first FABLES Public Art Project. The series is meant to “explore the Lower East Side’s living cultural heritage, rich historical legacies, and current issues in public storytelling through visual art.”
The first installation opens in April, and will be part of the inaugural Lower East Side History Month in May. Each exhibition will be featured at a different LES location, including: Ideal Glass (East 2nd St, btw Bowery & 2nd Ave), First Street Green Park (corner of 2nd Ave & Houston St), Centre-Fuge (East 1st St, near 1st Avenue) and City Lore (56 East 1st Street).
See below for the finalists and their projects:
- Theresa Loong and Laura Nova met at the counter of Shopsin’s in the Essex Street Market. A restaurant known for its one of a kind chef and provocative philosophy on food, Theresa and Laura quickly connected on topics of digital media, food, and art. Feed Me a Story is the resulting collaboration, consisting of food stories gathered in part from their work at the LaGuardia Senior Center, shared with the public through visual and audio installations. “We are thrilled to be a part of the FABLES Exhibition. This project will enable us to shine a spotlight on senior citizens and reflect diverse tastes and traditions in the neighborhood.”
- By applying sign vinyl directly to glass, artist Tamara Gayer is designing a new stained glass inspired storefront space on the windows of City Lore. The artist explains, “First Street between First and Second Avenue is a beautiful block, exemplary of the diversity and history that are still evident on the Lower East Side. It would be hard to find a more perfect ‘canvas’ than the windows of City Lore.”
- Artistic team Miguel Trelles and Juan Fernando Morales-Nazario will bring a lively, Loisaida-centric variant of their exhibit Posters on the Wall, Our Nuyorican Story to actual walls in the neighborhood. According to the artists, the exhibit will revisit the striking and historical Nuyorican poster, “which lavishly illustrates the cosmopolitan sophistication of Puerto Rican artists in New York amalgamating traditional Puerto Rican culture with life and activism in the City.”
- Levan Mindiashvili, whose project will investigate gentrification and its effects on architecture and sense of place, describes, “With the mural ‘Ghost’ I want to contribute to a raising awareness in the importance of historical heritage and outline the overwhelming expansion of gentrification and generalization in the contemporary world.”
Semi-finalists included Paul Brainard, Scott Simon, Greg Spielberg & Rich Tu, and Margaret Inga Wiatrowski.
You can find more information here.
