Skip to main content

Maquette for "Queens: Festival" (for Joseph P. Addabbo Federal Building, Jamaica, New York)

View
@ Smithsonian American Art Museum

Description

In 1989, Howardena Pindell was one of eight African American artists commissioned to create a work of art for the new Joseph P. Addabbo Social Security Center in Jamaica, New York. In the wake of the controversy surrounding Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc, the General Services Administration wanted the South Jamaica installation to represent the neighborhood. Since South Jamaica is predominantly African American, GSA dedicated the installation to “the creativity of black artists.” Pindell hoped to capture a sense of place in Queens: Festival and so took photographs throughout the borough. For the final work, she selected twenty-two images that she felt reflected the landscape and people and painted them in a variety of styles to underscore the artistic diversity of the community.“The theme of Queens: Festival is its ethnic diversity. My hope is that people using the Social Security Building will see our paintings and experience them as containing some element familiar to them as residents of Queens.” Howardena Pindell, quoted in dedication brochure
Type:
Image
Format:
Acrylic Gel, Paint, Paper, And Colored Reproductions On Paper Mounted On Canvas
Rights:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program
View Original At:

Record Contributed By

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution