About a year ago, the community of Glendale in Queens noticed a change in the appearance of their local mall, the Shops at Atlas Park. The exterior wall of the parking lot along Cooper Avenue was suddenly home to a 60-foot spray painting of a boy. Grey, static-like vertical and horizontal streaks of paint hug the outline of the boy’s scrawny figure. The boy’s big ears protrude from the sides of his equally unproportionally big head that seems to sag forward, as if it is too heavy for his neck to keep upright. In his right hand, he holds a bouquet of colorful balloons, red, blue, yellow, green, and orange, that compliment the different hues on the sweater he is wearing. Painted over the striped colored of his sweater is a white outline of the head of a child, with ears just as big as the boy’s. His black creased pants come up short on his long, stick-like legs that grow out of his colorful, clown-feet shoes. His eyes are two different colors, brown and green, and seem to gleam when looking out into the distance with anticipation. Freckles dot his nose and cheeks, and below, his mouth is curved into a smirk-like expression.

If I were to categorize this mural to fit one of Kwon’s paradigms, it would fall into both the “art in places” and “art as space” paradigms. The “art in places” paradigm suggests that the artwork is meant to disrupt the urban nature of the community by bringing a new and beautiful exhibit to unite the public. This is true of the mural; the bright colors stand out against the grey atmosphere of the urban area. It attracted the attention of many locals, who stopped by to take pictures to post on social media and share with others. It was able to bring the community together to admire the artwork because of its contrast against its colorless surroundings. 

It can also be categorized into the “art as space” paradigm. This lens describes the artwork to be “site-specific” and integrated to fit the space. This boy is painted on the outside of a parking garage outside of a mall, where children are likely to visit. It is an appropriate use of the space; it promotes the site and draws consumers in to shop. Furthermore, even though the public isn’t able to physically interact with the art, they are able to emotionally resonate with its message. This mural is meant to remind passerby of childhood innocence and mentally take them back to their times of juvenescence. The goofy, over-sized ears, a signature feature of the artist, and the clumsy shoes of the boy strike a familiar chord within the public, reminding them of the time when they had the same untroubled freedom as kids.

The artist, Sipros, signed his mural in black paint and, below that, added the crew of Brooklyn street artists that he is a member of, The Bushwick Collective. Atlas Park reached out to Sipros after a decision to use the blank wall as a canvas for a mural to attract shoppers. Sipros typically creates most of his work in Brooklyn, with his most popular murals being displayed in Bushwick. This is an interesting case in which the artist does not have personal ties to the neighborhood, but his artwork is still enjoyed by many, mostly due to the light, sweet message about childhood that it emanates.

The second exhibit of public art that I viewed is a sculpture that I remember visiting since I was a child. The Unisphere is located in a plaza in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens. It was commissioned for the 1964-1965 World Fair and was designed by Gilmore D. Clarke. The American Bridge Company built and erected the structure for free, asking instead for their name and logo to be marketed on all of the fair’s products. During that time, the Unisphere celebrated the new era of space exploration and the achievement of an expanding universe.

The sculpture is a hollow representation of the globe and sits atop a three-pronged pedestal. The spherical structure is 140 feet tall and measures 120 feet in diameter. The shape of the globe is formed with steel rings that mimic longitude and latitude on a flat map, making the globe look like a rounded cage. Solid steel pieces in the shapes of the continents sit on the gridded sphere. The topography of each continent is depicted as well, with stacked layers of steel representing high mountainous regions. Encircling the globe are three thin orbital rings, each tracing a different route of the earliest satellites. The circular base of the pedestal features fountain water jets that were installed to create the illusion of movement, as the physical rotation of the sphere was deemed “impractical.” A cement ledge encloses the base of the structure. 

This work of public art is an example of both the “art as space” and “new genre public art” paradigms. The public is able to physically interact with the artwork. People can sit on the cement ledge and children are allowed to run through the fountains in the summertime. The sculpture and its surrounding elements are useful to the community and give the public the sense of social responsibility Kwon was referring to. Additionally, the Unisphere can be an example of “new genre public art.” The Unisphere is located in Queens, the most diverse borough in the world. The symbolic meaning behind the structure has changed throughout the decades; today, it represents the melting pot of culture that it calls home. When people come to visit the Unisphere, they can see where they came from and take part in the new celebration of diversity that it stands for.

Overall, both works of public art were erected for different audiences and contribute a different message to their respective communities. The mural of the boy was meant for the immediate public, the locals that pass by the mall during morning commutes, or shoppers going to the mall. It was built to brighten the Glendale community and distract from the busyness of an urban lifestyle. The Unisphere serves the opposite purpose; it reminds viewers of the mixed community that they live in and praises the multicultural coexistence of its site.