COMMUNITY EXHIBITION TRANSFORMS CARS INTO MOVING ART PIECES
A fleet of vehicles pulled into a Harlem neighbourhood lot on a cool October Sunday. However, these vehicles weren't there to park, which was unexpected. Instead, they served as literal vehicles for a cutting-edge art display. Whether it was tucked into a car's trunk or draped across a rearview mirror, Stay Frosty offered a unique way to enjoy visual art. It was part tailgate, half road show, and fully site-specific.
BravinLee Programs hosted the show from October 24 to 26, inviting galleries, dealers, artists, independent curators, and non-profits to create artwork out of automobiles. An automobile built from recycled water bottles, a van with a luxurious, ultrapink inside reminiscent of Y2K aesthetics, simple sculptures situated inside a truck bed, and a lighthearted retelling of the classic Sisyphus myth were all visible to visitors across the parking lot. Additionally, works adorned the fence around the parking lot's perimeter, creating a lively yet contained space for interacting with the artwork on exhibit. For example, Ellie Murphy's installation features three different-colored tapestries with tiny tassels hung over the fence's chains in the background.
In contrast, Sarah George's sculpture of a raccoon holding a beer can sits next to a porta-potty, demonstrating the exhibition's central theme of playfulness.
Artists Z Behl and Kim Moloney's creative alias, Baloney, made an equally hilarious contribution. Three pigs have taken over a red pickup vehicle in the movie Piggies Undo the World. The automobile is obviously under assault as the three of them beat at it with wrenches and tire-piercing shivs while the hood is propped up and the engine is burning in cheesecloth and welded steel flames. What looks to be a mother pig with blood-red ribbons streaming from her udders is spread out on the top of the vehicle.
According to a press release by BravinLee, "Piggies Undo the World continues Baloney's investigation of metaphor, absurdist pageantry, and the politics of undoing at once gruesome and hilarious." "Are the piggies builders, destroyers, or both—and what world emerges in their wake?" is the question posed by the installation.