November 22, 2011–February 5, 2012
PRESENTED BY: Art Production Fund
LOCATION: Times Square, The Last Lot, 46th Street & 8th Avenue
SPONSOR: Sotheby’s
Art Production Fund is pleased to present Desert Rooftops by David Brooks, the first installation at The Last Lot project space, on 46th Street and 8th Avenue in New York City.
Desert Rooftops is a 5,000-square-foot sculpture that is an undulating configuration of multiple asphalt-shingled rooftops similar to those on suburban developments, McMansions and strip malls conjoined to resemble a rolling, dune-like landscape.
The piece examines issues of the natural and built landscape by comparing the monoculture that arises from unchecked suburban and urban sprawl with that of an over-cultivated landscape – creating a work that is “picturesque, familiar and simultaneously foreboding.” Brooks’ sculptural approach gives a nod to Robert Smithson’s earthworks and Gordon Matta-Clark’s building cuts while offering a much-needed sense of humor to help digest today’s somber environmental issues.
As housing communities devour more and more land and resources each year the outcome is equivalent to the very process of desertification. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification defines desertification as: land degradation into arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including human activities and climatic variations derived from over-development, over-grazing and an overworked land. The result is often a depleted landscape inhospitable to other life.
The Last Lot is a generous short-term donation to Art Production Fund from The Shubert Organization, and is part of the Times Square Alliance’s public art program that works to bring cutting-edge art to Times Square. “We feel fortunate to have access to such a unique public venue within proximity to Times Square,” say Art Production Fund Co-Founders Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen. “We will program the space through August 2012 with projects that focus on raising environmental consciousness.”
David Brooks (b. 1975) is an American sculptor and installation artist, whose work considers the relationship between the individual and the built and natural environment. He received his BFA from the Cooper Union in New York, and his MFA from Columbia University. Brooks has exhibited large-scale installations at Dallas Contemporary, Miami Art Museum, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Bold Tendencies London, as well as American Contemporary and the Sculpture Center in New York. Brooks was featured in the 2010 Greater New York at MoMA PS1 and lives and works in NYC. Brooks is represented by American Contemporary in New York.
Art Production Fund (APF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Projects include: SHOW, Vanessa Beecroft, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1998; PLAN B, Rudolf Stingel summer 2004, Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall and The Walker Art Center; Prada Marfa, Elmgreen & Dragset, Valentine, TX, 2005, permanent; Greeting Card, Aaron Young, Park Avenue Armory, 2007; Electric Fountain, Noble & Webster, Rockefeller Plaza, 2008; Scribble, Karl Haendel, New York City, 2009; ART ADDS, Alex Katz, Shirin Neshat, Yoko Ono, New York City, 2010; PAUSE, The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, NV, ongoing; White Ghost, Yoshitomo Nara, Park Avenue, NYC, 2010; Rob Pruitt: Holy Crap, Sotheby’s, New York City, 2010; The Ghosts, Sue de Beer, Park Avenue Armory, New York City, 2011; After Hours: Murals on The Bowery, New York City, 2011. Co-Founders: Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen; Director: Casey Fremont Crowe. Special thanks to Soho Mews for the ongoing support of Art Production Fund.
For more information on “Desert Rooftops” please visit www.artproductionfund.org
Or contact APF: staff [at] artproductionfund.org or 212-966-0193
Consulting architect: William / Architect.
Construction by: SFDS Fabrication and Design Shop www.sfdshop.com
This project is made possible through the generous support of Sotheby’s.
