CMA Presents
Make Art (In) Public
An introduction to artists in the public realm
33 1 May 4, 1958 — February 16, 1990
“My contribution to the world is my ability to draw. I will draw as much as I
can for as many people as I can for as long as I can. Drawing is still basically
the same as it has been since prehistoric times. It brings together man and
the world. It lives through magic.”
Keith Haring’s introduction to art began at the age of four when his father
would entertain him by drawing funny cartoon animals. Together they would
draw circles and from the circles develop dragons, dogs, worms, and other
such animals— imagery that would inspire his future work.
In 1978, at the age of 20, Keith moved to New York City to attend the School
of Visual Arts (SVA). His first two years in the city were extremely important and
helped form his ideas about making art public. In school, he studied video,
performance, and semiotics (the science of signs and symbols). Outside of
school, he made new friends, visited museums and galleries, and organized
his own art shows. He also hung out with young graffiti artists, whose art he
admired for “the obvious mastery of drawing and color, the scale, the pop
imagery, the commitment to drawing worthy of risk and the direct relationship
between artist and audience.”
It was this perfect combination of what Keith learned in school and outside of
school that set the trajectory for his public art career, which took off in 1980
when he started drawing with chalk on blank advertising panels in the New
York City subways.
“In 1980, I returned to drawing with a new commitment to purpose and
reality. If I was going to draw, there had to be a reason. That reason, I
decided, was for people. The only way art lives is through the
experience of the observer. The reality of art begins in the eyes of the
beholder and gains power through imagination, invention, and
confrontation.”
Keith pursued the rest of his career with the same idea that “art is for
everybody.” He traveled the world creating murals for public spaces as well
as raising awareness about the social issues of his time: nuclear proliferation,
anti-apartheid, and AIDS. He often volunteered at children’s organizations,
hospitals, and schools to host drawing workshops or create murals for and with
kids, always encouraging their self-expression through art.
2 Keith Haring
Portrait of Tseng Kwong Chi
c. 1985
Sumi ink on paper
Courtesy of Muna Tseng
Tseng Kwong Chi was a close friend of Keith Haring and an important part of the 1980s downtown arts scene. After the two met in
1979, Kwong Chi quickly became Keith’s “official” photographer, documenting just about every major project Keith embarked on.
Some of their most prominent collaborations included Art in Transit, an exhibition and catalog showcasing Kwong Chi’s photographs
of Keith’s chalk drawings in the New York City subway system, and Bill T. Jones Body Painting with Keith Haring, a photographic series of
the dancer/choreographer Bill t. Jones body painted in white acrylic lines.
In addition to documenting Keith’s work, Kwong Chi also took portraits of his contemporaries, including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel
Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Madonna and Kenny Scharf.
3 Tseng Kwong Chi
Subway Drawings
1980–86
PHotogRaPHS By tSeng KWong CHI. © Muna tSeng DanCe PRoJeCtS, InC. neW yoRK. aRt By KeItH HaRIng. © KeItH HaRIng founDatIon, neW yoRK. In 1980 Keith started drawing on the blank advertising panels of the New York City Subway system. At first Keith told no one, but once
Kwong Chi found out he volunteered to document the work and did so religiously. For the next several years, Keith would call Kwong
Chi after riding the subway and Kwong Chi would trace his path, photographing the works themselves, as well as documenting
interactions between the works and the public.
4 Tseng Kwong Chi
New York City Pop Shop Interior and Billboard
1986
PHotogRaPHS By tSeng KWong CHI. © Muna tSeng DanCe PRoJeCtS, InC. neW yoRK. aRt By KeItH HaRIng. © KeItH HaRIng founDatIon, neW yoRK. Although clearly more a commercial venture, Keith saw the Pop Shop as an extension of his subway drawings. The idea was to
continue a direct communication with the public and to create a place where both collectors and kids could come.
5 Tseng Kwong Chi
Free South Africa Advocacy
1985
PHotogRaPHS By tSeng KWong CHI. © Muna tSeng DanCe PRoJeCtS, InC. neW yoRK. aRt By KeItH HaRIng. © KeItH HaRIng founDatIon, neW yoRK. Keith originally created the free South Africa image as a painting, but later felt that it was powerful enough to raise awareness of the
anti-apartheid movement in the form of posters, buttons, and stickers. 20,000 posters were given away by Keith at an event in Central
Park.
6 Tseng Kwong Chi
Collaborative Mural with Chicago Public School Students
1989
PHotogRaPHS By tSeng KWong CHI. © Muna tSeng DanCe PRoJeCtS, InC. neW yoRK. aRt By KeItH HaRIng. © KeItH HaRIng founDatIon, neW yoRK. Sponsored by the Chicago Public School system and the city’s Museum of Contemporary art, Keith collaborated on a 520-foot mural
with 300 high school students over the course of four days. In commemoration of the event, Mayor Richard M. Daley proclaimed Keith
Haring Week and a documentary was made by WTTW-TV called Off the Wall with Keith and the Kids.
7 Tseng Kwong Chi
Mural for the Boys Club of New
York
1987
PHotogRaPHS By tSeng KWong CHI. © Muna tSeng DanCe PRoJeCtS, InC. neW yoRK.
aRt By KeItH HaRIng. © KeItH HaRIng founDatIon, neW yoRK. 8 b. June 13, 1935 (Christo) June 13, 1935 — November 18, 2009
(Jeanne-Claude)
When Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s project The Gates was finally unveiled to
the public in Central Park on February 12, 2005 it had been over 25 years
since Christo’s first sketch for the project and more than 40 years since the
team initially proposed a large public artwork for New York City. The
incredible amount of time and energy it took to bring the project to life
becomes even more incredible when you consider that The Gates was on
display for only 16 days before it was taken down and the materials were
recycled.
For Christo & Jeanne-Claude, the process of making their projects is as
important as the final product. Whether they are planning to wrap an
entire building with fabric, stack thousands of oil barrels, or install colorful
umbrellas simultaneously in Japan and the USA, each artwork begins with
finding the perfect location. Once selected, maps and photographs are
made of the site, which become the basis of Christo’s preparatory
drawings. These drawings are then exhibited and sold in order to raise
money and awareness for the project. After planning every single detail of
the artwork, the artists then have to convince the community to support
it, a process that can take anywhere from months to years and includes
hundreds to thousands of people.
The projects are special for many reasons, but perhaps most of all for the
amount of imagination they ask of their audiences. Before the artwork
exists in reality, the public has to see and believe in the artists vision; and
after the work is removed, the project stays alive through the memories of
the people who were involved in it. In describing their art, Christo said, “all
of our projects have this fragile quality. They will be gone tomorrow. They
will be missed.”
Both born on June 13, 1935, Christo and Jeanne-Claude were destined to
make art together and did so for more than 40 years. In that span of time
the artists made 22 monumental temporary public works, raised and spent
countless millions of dollars to finance their projects, and touched the lives
of innumerable people with their art. After Jeanne-Claude’s passing in
2009, Christo continues to pursue their art with Over The River, Project for
the Arkansas River, State of Colorado.
9 Christo
The Gates, Project for Central Park, New York City, Drawing in two parts
2004
Signed poster
10 Christo and Jeanne-Claude
The Gates, Central Park, New York City
1979–2005
Signed photographic poster
Photograph by Wolfgang Volz
For 16 days in mid-February 7,503 gates with saffron colored fabric were installed in Central Park. Each gate was 16 feet tall and varied
in width from 5 feet 6 inches to 18 feet. The project was entirely financed by the artists and was inspired by the interplay between the
winding walkways of Central Park and the city blocks surrounding it.
11 Christo
Surrounded Islands, Project for Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida,
Drawing in two parts
1982
Signed poster
12 Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Surrounded Islands, Biscayne
Bay, Greater Miami, Florida
1980–83
Signed photographic poster
Photograph by Wolfgang Volz
For two weeks in early May of 1983 eleven islands in
Biscayne Bay were surrounded with floating pink fabric
that extended 200 feet from each island. As with all of
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s artworks, the project took
many years to complete and included thousands of
people. Surrounded Islands was entirely financed by
the artists and was inspired by the way inhabitants of
Miami live between land and water.
13 Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Wrapped Reichstag,
Project for Berlin, Collage
in two parts
1984
Signed poster
14 Christo and JeanneClaude
Wrapped
Reichstag,
Berlin
1971–1995
Signed photographic
poster
Photograph by
Wolfgang Volz
For 14 days the
Reichstag, a symbol of
democracy in Berlin,
was wrapped in thick
polypropylene fabric
with blue
polypropylene rope.
The project was
entirely financed by
the artists and inspired
by the history of the
Reichstag, as well as
the use of fabric
throughout art history.
The wrapping
highlighted the
majestic features of
the building in a way
that revealed the
essence of the
Reichstag.
15 May 26, 1916 — September 8, 1999
Known as “The Viking of 6th Avenue,” Moondog, whose real name was
Louis, is one of New York’s most legendary street performers. Between the
years of 1949 and 1974 he was a regular sight on the streets of Midtown, and
one not to be missed. At over six feet tall and dressed in handmade Viking
attire, Moondog captivated people with his eccentric appearance. But the
way Moondog looked was only the very surface of his unique creative
genius.
Blinded at the age of 16 by a discarded dynamite cap he found on the
railroad tracks near his home in Hurley, Missouri, Louis worked hard to
overcome his new disability. He learned Braille quickly, began to write
poetry, and studied music theory, piano, pipe organ, percussion, violin, and
viola. Louis was able to learn a new instrument almost every month and
indeed later in his career said that he was “studying every instrument in the
orchestra” so that he could “record a whole symphony himself.”
By the time Louis moved to New York City and reinvented himself as
Moondog, he was not only composing his own music, but he was making his
own instruments too. Endlessly experimental, Moondog invented percussion
and string instruments with names such as The Dragon’s Teeth, Trimba, Oo,
Utsu, and Uni. He performed on the streets nearly every day, rain or shine,
and as the public learned more and more about this interesting person, his
career quickly blossomed. By early 1950 Moondog had started making
albums, recording both on the street with the sounds of taxis and tugboats
accompanying him, and in the studio with 40 piece orchestras. As his
renown grew, famous musicians and celebrities like Duke Ellington, Dean
Martin, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Parker and Cassius Clay came to watch
Moondog perform. He even jammed on the bongos with famous actor
Marlon Brando.
Much like the diversity of the city’s inhabitants, Moondog’s music is a blend
of all cultures. He combined Native American and Cuban drumming with
classical composition, jazz, and endless other influences from all over the
world. The result is a completely unique kind of music that will always sound
ahead of the times.
16 CMA Teaching Artists Mandy Talbot and Michelle Zahabian
Moondog
2011
Fiberglass, terracotta, oil paint, assorted fabrics, human hair,
wood and iron
This life-size replica of Moondog was created to resemble the
artist circa 1974 when he left New York City to live in Germany.
Using their unique skills, Mandy sculpted terracotta to create
Moondog’s face and hands and Michelle designed Moondog’s
clothing from close observation of the artist’s own clothingmaking techniques. The steel spear was forged and fabricated
with a wax coating by Jim Poulimas.
17 b. December 3, 1977
“I feel like no matter where I am and no matter what I am doing I am
always going to be thinking about how to make people’s lives a little bit
different.”
Every public artist in one way or another must address the fact that their
work will be seen by the community. It goes with the territory. If you make art
in public spaces, the people who use the space will have something to say
about it. This is the beauty of the medium: direct communication between
artist and audience. For most, this communication is enough, but for
Caledonia Dance Curry (otherwise known as Swoon) it is only the beginning.
Swoon takes a more intimate approach to the idea of community. Her art
doesn’t simply “involve” a community, but pushes further in order to build as
well as connect communities. This ethic has informed her entire career, and
especially so in recent projects such as Konbit Shelter, a set of sustainable
homes and community centers for earthquake victims in Bigones, Haiti and
The Dithyrambalina, a permanent sculpture for New Orleans in the form of a
life-size musical house that visitors can play. These projects and others like
them display Swoon’s personal practice of involving the community in her
artwork, and in turn, becoming involved in the community as well.
Both whimsical and political, Swoon seems to use two parts of her brain
when making art. On the one hand, her work confronts serious subjects like
water rights in Bolivia and violence in Mexico. On the other hand, she has
also organized pure public art fun such as junk-band parades, pirate
takeovers of the Staten Island ferry, and awesome adventure trips on
handmade rafts. The message being that you do not have to censor who
you are. Your art can be silly, serious, personal, political or whatever you
please and it is through this kind of uninhibited creative expression that
connections are created between people and communities come
together.
18 Swoon
Thalassa
2011
Block print on mylar with coffee stains and gouache paint
Originally created as an installation for the New Orleans Museum of Art, Thalassa is a sea goddess who is often considered the mother
of all sea creatures. Swoon envisioned the piece as a way to define human’s relationship with nature, as well as New Orleans’
relationship with water.
19 b. January 3, 1985
“I love people who are passionate about things. I also love bright colors.”
Street performers often adopt not only pseudonyms, but also entire
personas. Translated from Spanish, Tranqui Yanqui means “Chill American”
and is the alter ego of Nick Mahshie, a Miami-born, Buenos Aires-based
artist. As Tranqui, Nick creates cardboard clothing colorfully painted with
imagery that merges American popular culture, Latin icons, and the tropical
symbols of his native Miami. This “wardrobe” is not only the costume Tranqui
assumes in his public performances, but also makes up the products he
attempts to sell people at ferias (street markets) throughout the city.
Whether it is a closet full of Tranqui attire, an ATM dispensing Tranqui-Bucks,
or a Tranqui American Sueno Stand, the scenarios Tranqui Yanqui creates to
engage the public in his world are ideas that begin in the heart and build in
the mind. Like a good salesman, Tranqui excites his customers’ eyes with
bright and colorful products (literally, eyes sometimes get wider). But like a
magician, the colors are more of a distraction, so that while you’re looking
at the products he can communicate with you on a personal level about
who you are, where you come from, and what your life is like. In this way, the
art is a vehicle to invoke the curiosity of passersby, initiate dialogue, and
bond with people across cultural borders.
20 Tranqui Yanqui
Tranqui’s Sueño Americano
2011
Acrylic paint on cardboard, wood, and found materials
Tranqui’s Sueño Americano is an interactive stand designed to be an inviting call to partake in Tranqui’s fantasy world. Colorful hats,
glasses, and necklaces made of paper and cardboard are items created to transport you to another place. This art is made to be
seen, touched, and enjoyed. The costumes on display have been used by Tranqui and other participants of Tranqui’s “Sueño” during
one of his many live performances.
21 December 15, 1928 — February 19, 2000
“Just carrying a ruler with you in your pocket should be forbidden, at
least on a moral basis.”
An Austrian artist, architect, environmentalist, and activist, Hundertwasser
tirelessly pursued man’s right to live in harmony with nature. He advocated
tenant rights for trees, campaigned against the straight line in architecture,
and brought his vision for a better world to the public with printed
manifestos, public demonstrations, and actually creating the kind of
architecture he preached.
Although Hundertwasser did not create his first building until he was 55, he
had been forming his ideas about architecture since the very beginning of
his career. His philosophy centered on the idea that “the straight line is not
a creative line, it is a duplicating line, an imitating line,” which he
explained in his Mouldiness Manifesto Against Rationalism in Architecture
(1958). This belief was formed from the observation that straight lines do
not appear in nature, and so it would be unnatural to use them
architecture—in fact it would crush the human spirit. Unfortunately, almost
all of the buildings that Hundertwasser saw being created around him used
straight lines. In response, as “Architecture’s Doctor,” Hundertwasser
designed his buildings to have uneven floors, irregularly laid tiles, trees
coming out of windows, and roofs covered with earth, grass and even
more trees. He also supported each tenant’s right to paint anything they
wanted within arm’s reach outside their windows. These could be the only
solutions for bad architecture.
Hundertwasser’s commitment to his ideas is evident in the amount of art he
created. Beyond the hundreds of paintings, drawings, flags, and smaller
artworks, there are 35 living, breathing architectural works that display all
of Hundertwasser’s philosophies on living in harmony with nature and art.
But sometimes it is the things Hundertwasser said that mean the most.
When describing the uneven floor in the hallways of the Hundertwasser
House, he said, “the uneven walkway becomes a symphony, it is a melody
for the feet. The walkway makes the whole person vibrate. Architecture
should elevate man, not humiliate him.”
22 Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Hundertwasser Turm (Tower)
1999
Developer: Brauerei zum Kuchlbauer gmbH, Leonhard Salleck, Abensberg Planning: Peter Pelikan (preliminary plan dating from June
1999) Model 1:50: Alfred Schmid, 2000
The seventy metre tower was originally planned for various uses such as a planetarium, a cinema, and a commercial space but was
finally realized as an exhibition space where the concept and philosophy of the Kuchlbauer Brewery would be represented. Due to
unfortunate refusal from the Bavarian department for the protection of historical heritage (Bayerisches landesamt für Denkmalschutz)
this tower project had to be reduced after Hundertwasser’s death to 35-metre height.
23 Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Textile Factory Rueff Truck
1989
Collage on paper
C-print on sintra panel
24 Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Suggestions for Healing of
Architecture
1971–72
Watercolor on three architectural photographs
C-print on sintra panel
Hundertwasser describes the artwork in his own words: “I
took photographs of a completely hideous, terrible
highrise residential project in north Germany—I think it
was built by “neue Heimat” (“new Homeland”)—and
painted trees, non-regulated irregularities and windowright activities over them, just the way I imagine the
activity of the architecture doctor who heals sick
buildings.”
25 Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Suggestions for Healing of
Architecture
1971–72
Watercolor on three architectural photographs
C-print on sintra panel
Hundertwasser describes the artwork in his own words: “I took
photographs of a completely hideous, terrible highrise
residential project in north Germany—I think it was built by
“neue Heimat” (“new Homeland”)—and painted trees, nonregulated irregularities and window-right activities over them,
just the way I imagine the activity of the architecture doctor
who heals sick buildings.”
26 Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Tree Tenant
1976
Ink and watercolor on paper
C-print on sintra panel
Hundertwasser believed that trees should be given tenant
rights both on top of buildings and actually inside of
apartments. In his essay Tree Tenants are the Ambassadors
of the Free Forests in the City (1980) he wrote, “the tree
tenant is a giver. It is a piece of nature, a piece of homeland,
a piece of spontaneous vegetation in the anonymous and
sterile city desert, a piece of nature which can develop
without the rationalist control of man and his technology.” In
advocating for tree tenants he made demonstrations and
coined the phrase “each additional tree—an additional
chance.”
27 Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Drawing of the Green Motorway
Ink and watercolor on paper
C-print on sintra panel
In this design Hundertwasser outlines his idea for an inaudible and invisible green motorway. The concept was to create highways that
were less disturbing for houses and people near the roadway, as well as a more pleasurable experience for drivers.
28 b. December 30, 1978
Creating his artist name from the idea of art as a remedy, Guillaume Alby pursues
a specific purpose when he makes art in public:
Peace. Love. Unity.
These are the feelings and ideas that Remed wants to convey to his audience, and
he does so with massive murals in far-flung places like Gambia, Sao Paolo,
Ukraine, Atlanta, New York, Portugal, and Spain.
“I create rhymes of colors, shapes and sounds so as to express an emotion, a
feeling, or the evolution of thought. I paint as you write a diary, a notebook of
inventions, or philosophical novel. Every time, I make my self-inventory. Art is for
me the sincere blend of science and Soul. I live what I feel, I paint what I live.”
Remed’s subject matter is almost always the human figure, which he uses to
explore ideas about existence and creation. His figures exude strength, express
hope, and confront adversity. Their main body parts are made up of simple forms
that when viewed as a whole harmonize in a delicate interplay of color, shape and
texture.
29 Remed
Heart the World
2011
Spray and acrylic latex paint on MDF
This piece was created specifically for CMA’s Make Art (In) Public exhibition. At the end of the show it will be de-installed and a
permanent home will be found for it where the public can view it.
30 Children’s art comes in all different forms and in the 1970s teenagers
began creating their art in “piecebooks”. Combining the idea of a
masterpiece and a sketchbook, piecebooks emerged out of a growing
desire by fans and practitioners of the art to collect the signatures, or
“tags,” of their fellow artists. Unauthorized graffiti writing is and always has
been illegal, but over the years the beautiful colors, intricate designs, and
bold social statements have proved greatly influential to contemporary
artists and culture.
The current fascination with the graffiti movement, and the piecebooks
that were an important part of it, is recognition of this bold lettering as a
form of art. While issues like how often the tag was seen and how difficult
it was to make were part of the appreciation, the merit that received the
most attention was the actual visual artistry of the tag. Experiments in line,
color, value, and shape sparked innovation in letterforms, characters,
and subject matter, all of which helped these kids grow creatively. Thanks
to former graffiti artist George Sewell we are able to get a glimpse into the
early formation of this hugely influential art form, as well as the creative
development of artists like TEAM and FAME.
31 George Sewell and Nelson Keene Carse
Untitled Piecebooks
1976–1984
Rapidograph and design markers on paper
George Sewell
Untitled
1978
C-print on sintra panel
Rapidograph and design markers on paper
George Sewell
The Mind Boggler
1976
C-print on sintra panel
Rapidograph and design markers on paper
32