LIC is a Galaxy
This unique and evolving installation on view this spring and summer celebrates the idea that Long Island City is a galaxy, both diverse and unified. Whether you live and work in LIC, or are just visiting our galaxy, we encourage you to travel to all eighteen “planets” placed in tree pits throughout the district.
Twenty fiberglass spheres were manufactured by LIC-based fabricator, Sculpture House NYC. Five Queens-based artists were selected through an open call from Culture Lab LIC and commissioned to design and paint four planets each, with twenty total spheres representing our galaxy.
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Long Island Board of REALTORS®. LIC is a Galaxy represents a partnership with Eventscape, a custom Architectural Fabrication firm in LIC, and Culture Lab LIC, an arts non-profit run out of the Plaxall Gallery.
About the Work: ALL EYES ON LIC
Four eyes depict the diverse forms of life which live together in LIC. A human eye represents LIC residents. A dog eye represents LIC having the highest per capita ratio of dogs to humans in NYC. A fish eye represents the waterways in LIC. And a robotic eye represents the influx of hi tech in LIC and its future. Each eye is visually and conceptually interconnected with other eyes painted, as well as connected to the eyes of the viewers. The eyes are an ecosystem of land and water. Each eye is essential to the vibrant life of the Long Island City region. Viewers of all ages will recognize and relate to the bright hyper realistic eye spheres.
About the Work: Brainflowers
Kerri Boccard Tiburzi's brightly colored pieces are meant to draw in onlookers to further observe the whimsical and hidden deeper meanings within her work. Kerri refers to her work as "Brainflowers" as the thoughts bloom into her mind and grow out into the physical world. In "Brainflowers," a bouquet of scattered flowers descends from the top of the sphere, landing upon faces beneath them. The faces are blended together abstractly- multiple figures will share facial features, so the figures can appear as individuals and multiple people all at once. The blending of the faces represents how we see ourselves in one another. The various flowers represent our different thoughts - when we put our minds together it creates wild and positive beauty.
About the Work: The Four Elemental Forces
"Enter the breathing that is more than your own,"this phrase from a Rilke poem suggests the wideness of our world, our universe. All is alive with breath. These 4 orbs suggest each of the elemental forces where breath is manifest; in each breath is existence itself. In the air, birds remind us of the aliveness, the changing roil that is our atmosphere. The invisible wind teases us, and sometimes takes our breath away. Being beautifully startled deliberately connects us to the sky.
About the Work: Unity in Diversity
Unity is a key factor in a community and neighborhood. A community is formed by multiple factors, as planets are formed by multiple colors, temperatures, and factors, and the galaxy is formed by multiple planets. Community and unity encourage creative expression to highlight the importance of human connection. My goal is to use forms, shapes, and color to transcend the polarization and division of our times. Despite the many factors that divide us—by skin color, politics, class, spiritual orientation, religious belief, cultural and sexual orientation, etc., there is a deeper current in uniting people. In these paintings, my goal is to inspire that we can capture a community’s essence, inspire the viewer to greater harmony, and challenge preconceived ideas. Art encourages creative expression to highlight the importance of human connection. Art has the power to open people’s minds beyond learned limitations, judgments, and divisions. Unity in this artwork refers to how different elements, forms, and shapes come together and create a sense of wholeness. It can be achieved through proximity, simplicity, repetition, and continuation in real life.
About the Work: WE ARE ONE
Groups of figures and fragments of urban life on the streets and transparent elements reflect from the many windows that line the sidewalks. Altogether the people begin to be experienced as one because of these quick juxtapositions as we pass by. The many are experienced as one in their motion.