Mia Westerlund Sculptures To Be On Display On Park Ave 4/19-8/28

New York City's Department of Parks & Recreation is pleased to announce an exhibition of new sculptures by Mia Westerlund Roosen on Park Avenue from April 19 through August 28, 2010. The current exhibition features three new works, Juggler, Baritone, and French Kiss on the Park Avenue Malls in the landscaped medians between 52nd Street and 53rd Street.

"The Parks Department is excited to partner with the Betty Cunningham Gallery, the Fund for Parks Avenue and the Grand Central Partnership to present this series of sculptures by Mia Westerlund Roosen, which will enliven the Park Avenue Malls this summer," said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe. "Her artistic representations of identity and body politics are sure to capture the minds of the many who pass through this bustling section of midtown. This exhibit continues a tradition of great art along Park Avenue, one of the world's most famous boulevards."

As a burgeoning artist working during the feminist movement, Westerlund Roosen used lead, encaustic, and textiles to study gender identity. As her practice matured, she embraced concrete stucco as her medium of choice, as it allows her to create hand-molded pieces that retain a sense of vulnerability despite their significant corporal mass. Her exhibition on Park Avenue continues her exploration of voluminous curves, palpable surfaces, and the sensual body, which she attributes to her continued fascination with dance.

Westerlund Roosen has been exhibiting her sculpture since 1971, earning her the honor of several prestigious awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and a Fulbright Fellowship. Her work can be seen in numerous public collections, most notably the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; and the Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY. She divides her time between New York City and Buskirk, NY.

Westerlund Roosen is the latest in a long list of distinguished artists to exhibit on Park Avenue, including Louise Nevelson, Anthony Caro, Deborah Butterfield, Fernando Botero and Kenneth Snelson, Jean DuBuffet, Robert Indiana, Tom Otterness, James Surls, and Claude and Francois-Xavier Lalanne. Parks & Recreation's public art program has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, collaborations with arts organizations and artists have produced hundreds of public art projects in New York City parks.

Special thanks to the Betty Cuningham Gallery, the Fund for Park Avenue, and the Grand Central Partnership.