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Art on Gov­er­nors Island Fea­tured at MCNY’s Newest Exhibit

Nov 17, 2017 11:57 am

Pho­to: Rob Stephen­son cour­tesy MCNY

Look back at fifty years of pub­lic art in the city: includ­ing on Gov­er­nors Island!

Don’t miss the Muse­um of the City of New York​’s newest exhi­bi­tion, Art in the Open, fea­tur­ing sev­er­al pieces of pub­lic works dis­played on Gov­er­nors Island. Pub­lic art has played a crit­i­cal role in Gov­er­nors Island’s trans­for­ma­tion as a beloved pub­lic space, mak­ing works from acclaimed artists Rachel Whiteread, Mark Di Suvero and more acces­si­ble to the hun­dreds of thou­sands of New York­ers vis­it­ing each year.

In cel­e­bra­tion of the one-year anniver­sary of the exhi­bi­tion #NYatItsCore, the Muse­um of the City of New York is offer­ing FREE admis­sion through the end of the week! Get a piece of Gov­er­nors Island dur­ing our off sea­son while cel­e­brat­ing oth­er ground­break­ing works that have trans­formed New York City pub­lic spaces over the last 50 years. 

Gov­er­nors Island works fea­tured in the exhib­it below…

Cab­in, Rachel Whiteread, 2016-present

Rachel Whiteread’s per­ma­nent instal­la­tion Cab­in on Dis­cov­ery Hill con­tin­ues the British artist’s inter­est in pro­duc­ing evoca­tive sculp­tures of neg­a­tive spaces and struc­tures. In this case, atop the edge of Dis­cov­ery Hill, the artist has sit­ed a con­crete cast of the inte­ri­or of a sim­ple cab­in, a place sug­ges­tive of retreat and intro­spec­tion. Sit­ting mod­est­ly on the hill­side over­look­ing New York Har­bor, the sculp­ture cre­ates a sense of con­tem­pla­tive qui­et and dis­tance from the bus­tle of the city across the water. Strewn around the cab­in are numer­ous bronze casts of dis­card­ed objects includ­ing bot­tles, cans and oth­er refuse; some of these objects were sourced on the Island itself.

Mark di Suvero at Gov­er­nors Island pre­sent­ed by Storm King Art Cen­ter, 2011 – 2012 

Mark di Suvero’s largescale, spa­tial­ly dynam­ic com­po­si­tions, cre­at­ed using such indus­tri­al mate­ri­als as steel I‑beams and sal­vaged steel, reveal a mas­ter­ful sense of form, com­po­si­tion, and move­ment, while also con­vey­ing poignant emo­tion and, fre­quent­ly, a sense of play. This exhib­it was curat­ed by Storm King Direc­tor and Cura­tor David Col­lens and was the largest out­door pre­sen­ta­tion of di Suvero’s sculp­ture to be shown in New York City since the 1970s. 

4heads Gov­er­nors Island Art Fair, 2008

In 2008, the artists’ col­lec­tive 4heads, in part­ner­ship with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the Nation­al Parks Ser­vice, holds their first art fair with dozens of par­tic­i­pat­ing artists and orga­ni­za­tions pre­sent­ed to the pub­lic on week­ends. Tout­ed as New York’s largest inde­pen­dent exhi­bi­tion, GIAF wel­comes over 40,000 vis­i­tors annu­al­ly in New York Har­bor and exhib­it­ed over one hun­dred artists in their 2017 fair. The 4heads col­lec­tive fos­ters com­mu­ni­ty by offer­ing space for artists to exhib­it, to pro­vide arts-edu­ca­tion for the under­served and to expose hid­den culture.