Every year, Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City gives 15 artists a chance to work on pieces that address the issues they feel are most pressing and display them for all to see.
The Socrates Annual, which has given more than 250 artists fellowships to create their work at 32-01 Vernon Blvd., will take place this year from Oct. 1 through March 11. Artists were chosen by a panel of advisers and work with a variety of mediums including mosaic, cast concrete, glass and painting.
Artists Tali Keren and Alex Strada’s piece “National Park” will allow residents to take a selfie with past presidents. The art piece, which has photographic and audio components, tells the story of the defunct Presidents Park in Williamsburg, Virginia.
According to the artists’ statement, “the work aims to question the promise and stability of political representation and mythology.”
Sreshta Rit Premnath explores the allure of living in luxury developments and the reality of the working and living conditions of those who help build these structures. “Only One Way” consists of imagery of real estate advertising with flimsy silhouettes made of rubber and sand.
Ronny Quevedo creates an indoor basketball court with milk-cartoon crate hoops that doubles as the playing fields found in ancient Mayan temples. His piece, “Equatorial Shifts,” “examines how displaced cultures shape the urban landscape of New York City.”
If you’ve visited Socrates Sculpture Park, you may have inadvertently become part of the exhibition.
Moeinedin Shashaei cast the mouths of dozens of visitors for his project “Unum,” which comes from the Latin phrase that translates to “out of many, one.” Hundreds of individual smiles captured by Sashaei become one unified art piece.
Artist Tanda Francis explores basic human needs and resources that may be easy to come by for some but are often taken for granted because of their scarcity for others. “Take Me With You” depicts a head that is emerging from a pool but is searching for water from the sky.
For a full list of all the artists and their works, visit the Socrates Sculpture Park website.
