Wood, MDF, bronze, plastic, Plexiglas, and enamel

October 26, 2005 – September 10, 2006

Public Art Fund is proud to present a new exhibition of contemporary art at MetroTech Center. Material World features new commissions by Rachel Foullon, Corin Hewitt, Matthew Day Jackson, Peter Kreider, and Mamiko Otsubo. The works, which range from personal monuments to visionary landscapes, are each made using materials that directly relate to or are inspired by the artist’s chosen subject matter.

Rachel Foullon’s Housescape is composed of five objects: a blue-and-white two-story beach house, an orange camping tent, a weather-beaten horse trough, a parquet dance floor, and a satellite dish. Each object is built to have its own scale in relationship to reality. Foullon chooses to work in a range of materials in order to make each object as realistic as possible, variously using wood, bronze, rubber, Plexiglas, and aluminum.

Installed on a grassy area on the MetroTech Commons, Housescape suggests a surreal modern-day rural homestead inserted into an urban landscape. With their various scales and materials, the objects in Housescape each seem to come from a different era and place. Foullon notes that each object “has a particular time-life built into it”--the trough seems old, as if it is a relic from another time, while the satellite dish looks slick and contemporary. The tent is provisional while the house evokes permanence. The dance floor suggests a one-night party rental, left out after the event is long over. Taken together, the objects prompt a series of perceptual shifts, encouraging the viewer to take a closer look.

Artist Bio
Rachel Foullon lives and works in Brooklyn. She was born in Glendale, California; she received her BS from New York University (2000) and her MFA from Columbia University (2004). Recent group exhibitions include “Paper” at Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York (2005); “Four-Ply” at Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York (2004); and “Viviere Venezia 2: Recycling the Future,” Venice, Italy (2003).

Sponsorship
Material World at MetroTech Center is part of an ongoing program organized by the Public Art Fund and sponsored by MetroTech Commons Associates, an organization that consists of MetroTech companies Bear Stearns & Company, Forest City Ratner Companies, JPMorganChase, KeySpan, and Polytechnic University. Special thanks to Forest City Ratner Companies and First New York Management.

Location
MetroTech Center is located in Downtown Brooklyn between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue at Myrtle Avenue. Viewing hours are dawn to dusk daily for outdoor works, Monday through Friday 8am to 6pm for Mamiko Otsubo’s sculptures in One MetroTech. Subway: A, C, F to Jay Street/Borough Hall, exit at Myrtle Promenade; R to Lawrence Street.

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