You are reading

New sculpture is erected in Court Square section of LIC

“Parting” located in Court Square

July 22, 2013 By Christian Murray

What used to be an asphalt parking lot in the Court Square section of LIC, has been transformed into a temporary green space that is now the home of a new sculpture.

Socrates Sculpture Park and Rockrose Development Corp have joined forces to bring an abstract sculpture called “Parting” to 43-29 Crescent Street. The sculpture is located on green space—deemed a private park—which is near the entrance of the future M. Wells Steakhouse that is expected to open this summer.

The sculpture has been designed to complement the new architecture—particularly the new high-rise buildings that have emerged in the Court Square area in recent years. It incorporates many of the same shapes of the glass towers that surround it, such as Rockrose’s Linc LIC, a 42-story luxury apartment tower.

The private park, which is home to “Parting,” is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am – 6pm. The display represents Socrates Sculpture Park’s first showing outside its Astoria location.

The sculpture is made up of three primary components: the frame, which is made of wood; the steel joints, which provide the connections; and the plastic chain that is then draped from the steel.

“‘Parting’ is an extraordinary site-specific project that straddles categories of art and architecture,” said John Hatfield, the executive director of Socrates.

Jerome Haferd and Brandt Knapp, both from New York, originally made the piece for a Socrates competition in 2012 when groups designed and constructed architectural follies — small-scale structures that often have no discernible purpose.

Haferd and Knapp won the competition — an ongoing collaboration between Socrates Sculpture Park and the Architectural League of New York to explore the intersection of sculpture and architecture.