Public Art Fund: In the Public Realm: Mark Handforth

Press Release
Artist Bio
Sponsorship
Location

Mark Handforth, "Lamppost"

aluminum lamppost, enamel paint,
red lights

April 24, 2003 - June 6, 2003

At Doris C. Freedman Plaza
(Fifth Avenue at 60th Street)

Mark Handforth, "Lamppost" Photo: Aaron Diskin

Mark Handforth's Lamppost, is a massive industrial streetlight - originally 45 feet tall - that is folded in two places so it rests on the ground, leaning on its five-point crown of red glowing lights, and it is Handforth's first outdoor work in his singular series of twisted lamppost sculptures. Installed at the southeast entrance to Central Park, it retains a small part of its original function - lighting a public space - but does so in a way that is at once dramatic and humorous. The large features of the grounded lamp seem absurd, almost surreal, and Handforth's use of red light bulbs, replacing the standard yellow sodium bulbs, produces an ethereal glow on Doris C. Freedman Plaza.

Artist Bio
Mark Handforth has recently had solo exhibitions at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2002); Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York (2000, 2002); and the Galleria Franco Noero, Turin, Italy (2002). Born in Hong Kong in 1969, Handforth grew up in London and lives in Miami. He attended the Staatliche Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, Stadelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany and the Slade School of Fine Art, London.

Sponsorship
Mark Handforth's Lamppost is a project of the Public Art Fund program, In the Public Realm, which is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, the Greenwall Foundation, The Silverweed Foundation, The JP Morgan Chase Foundation, and friends of the Public Art Fund.

This exhibition is made possible through the cooperation and support of the City of New York/Parks & Recreation.

Location
Doris C. Freedman Plaza is located at the Southeast Entrance to Central Park on Fifth Avenue and 60th Street.
Nearest Subway: N R to Fifth Avenue stop or 4,5,6 to 59th Street stop.