Ryan Gander’s “The Happy Prince” will tantalize passersby through April 2011 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
The New School, Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th St. between University Pl. & Sixth Ave.
Thursday, September 16, $10, 6:30
212-223-7805
www.publicartfund.org
“the happy prince” opening slideshow
In describing British artist Ryan Gander and his “Passengers: 1.3” 2007 exhibit at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, CCA director Jens Hoffman wrote, “Gander’s works are uncommonly hard to decipher. He sends us on a journey that is less about trying to arrive at an intellectual understanding and more about engaging in a form of detective work, which is often linked to the history of larger social structures and their relationships to the human condition. He lays out the evidence and asks us to study it carefully, connecting the different elements and forming our own personal relationship with them.” Hoffman’s perfect summation can also be applied to Gander’s latest piece, his first commissioned public sculpture, “The Happy Prince,” which went on view yesterday at Doris C. Freedman Plaza at the beginning of Central Park on 60th St. & Fifth Ave.
Ryan Gander will be giving one of his “Loose Associations” PowerPoint performance-lectures at the New School on September 16 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Using glass-reinforced concrete, Gander has brought to life the end of Oscar Wilde’s 1888 absurdist fairy tale about a gilded statue of the Happy Prince, which goes from being “as beautiful as a weathercock” to “little better than a beggar” after a severe frost. Ever the visual storyteller, Gander incorporates many elements of the tale into his sculpture, including the Swallow, the prince’s crown, and his heart, all of which can be found within the rubble with some detective work. The sculpture not only comments on public art and monuments but also relates to Central Park and New York itself, a proud city that has more than its fair share of princes and beggars. Gander, whose “Intervals” site-specific installation opens at the Guggenheim on October 1, will be presenting one of his famed “Loose Associations” illustrated performance-lectures at the New School on September 16 as part of the Public Art Fund Talks series, in which he combines text and images in unique ways via PowerPoint.