Go out and Play
Found wood cabinet, acrylic paint, oil paint, found sheet metal, wire
There are nearly 8 million people that live in New York City all working hard, pursuing dreams or simply just getting by. It is easy to get caught up in the rush and chaos that comes from living in such a populated and competitive environment. Governor’s Island is a part of this city and only a short ferry ride from Manhattan, and yet it has this way of transporting New Yorkers almost to another world. It is definitely an island of escape from the hustle and bustle, which quickly becomes simply a distant view across the water.
For this Brooklyn Utopias show, I am using found materials to show how I see Governor’s Island as this escape to a more care-free world. This world is somewhat utopian in that people are less concerned with the daily grind and more creative, fun, and almost childlike when they are experiencing the island. Sometimes, I think there is a need in us all to run away to “Never-Never Land” and leave grown up reality behind for a while. As kids, we drew with crayons and played, made messes. As adults, we're trained this is not okay anymore but what I’m trying to say, with this piece, is that it is, and I think Governor's Island is promoting the same idea, that playing is okay and even important for us as a community to connect with each other.
There are so many of us sharing the same small city and under our harder, sometimes more jaded exteriors, we as adults, are pretty much simply excitable and vulnerable children. Opening the small door in this old found cabinet, my piece allows the viewer to enter a playful environment not completely foreign to the reality of the real world but still very much capturing a certain childlike innocence. The pillow fight paintings painted on found, rusted, sheet metal dangle down and are blown against each other when the door is opened, making the sound of chimes in the wind. This sound has always been very soothing to me and reminiscent of playing outside when I was a kid. We all had pillow fights as kids and I say why not as adults too? The more we allow ourselves to let out our frustrations and become less separated from our inner child nature, the happier us as, New Yorkers will be.
