Sculpture Beckons Visitors to a Story of Queens

Good friends can be forever, even if you don’t see them very often. Many years have passed, perhaps 30, since sculptor Mark di Suvero and I had seen each other. So I was ecstatic when I recently visited his studio Space Time, for a brunch in Long Island City, Queens. The neighborhood borders Astoria, and both have been increasing in popularity for years. Mark and I met with the new fellows in residence for Socrates Sculpture Park, which is located adjacent to Space Time. I couldn’t have been more excited as Mark, a little gray, but still with deep blue eyes, greeted me. “Janet,” he yelled: “We did this together. Don’t you remember?” Of course I remembered!

Back in the early ‘80s, the land where Socrates Sculpture Park now sits was a vacant landfill in public ownership. The idea came to us to try to acquire this property for a nonprofit sculpture park where artists could learn about public sculpture and exhibit their work. In order to do this, the land needed to be redesignated as park land, which was accomplished with the help of Commissioner Bill Cook of the NYC Parks Department.

As we continued to talk, Mark told me that at 91 years old, and after all of his many achievements, he felt that creating opportunities for other artists was one of his most precious accomplishments. He recited every detail of how it all began. Mark said: “Do you know that we have mentored some 1,200 artists in the years since Socrates was opened? That’s a record of which we should both be very proud.”

The site of Socrates Sculpture Park is directly on the east river. It faces the high-rises across the river on the east side of Manhattan. Our hope at the time was that it would encourage those folks along the Manhattan side of the river to invest more in artists and, of course, sculpture.

At the brunch, we were graced with the presence of Laurie Cumbo, the new Commissioner of Cultural Affairs in New York City.  She is eager to work for the people of NYC and to help bring more public sculpture to every part of the city, and she is proud of the Percent for Arts program that her agency administers.

Despite Mark di Suvero’s legacy as one of the most important 20^th century sculptors, it is telling that his proudest moments are those in which he is able to pay it forward to other young, talented artists—on an ongoing basis—which he has been doing ever since the opening of Socrates Sculpture Park in 1986.

On view now through April 6^th at Socrates Sculpture Park is The Socrates Annual 2024, a culmination of the park’s fellowship program, awarded to nine artists who were selected through an open call.

As a Queens native, I love the fact that sculpture has become a destination. But long before the Socrates Sculpture Park became a reality, Isamu Noguchi established his studio there, nearby where Mark would later open his studio. Actually, at the time, Mark and I visited Noguchi together to seek his help. More than two decades after Isamu established his studio, a museum dedicated to his works and Socrates Sculpture Park opened just a year apart, and right down the road from one another. And, from the looks of things, Long Island City and Astoria are definitely still on the NYC culture map.

(Photo: Janet Langsam with artist Mark di Suvero in his Queens studio)