MuseumChick | Danee Gilmartin

After a winter stroll through the Socrates Sculpture Park, I walked one block south to The Noguchi Museum. This small duplex museum housed in a 1920s industrial building has an unrefined and modern feel with brick walls, cement floors, and exposed beamed ceilings- a sharp contrast to Noguchi’s smoothly polished and brightly colored pieces. With ample walking space in between pieces, even on this semi-crowded weekend I could stroll the museum unrushed and without distraction. This ideal situation for viewing art has been hard to find in NYC museums for me lately.

Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was a Japanese-American artist. Although born in Los Angeles, Noguchi lived in Japan in his young life, moving back to the US at age thirteen. While taking evening sculpture classes on New York’s Lower East Side, he decided to become an academic sculptor, training in the US and Paris. In 1938, he was first recognized in the US when he completed a stainless steel relief called “News” symbolizing the freedom of the press on the Associated Press building in Rockefeller Center. He went on to complete many outdoor sculptures in NYC, including my favorite, a modern, bright red and precariously balancing cube called “Red Cube”,  located in the financial district, off of Williams Street. For an example of Noguchi’s outdoor, unrefined sculpture go to Central Park. “Unidentified Object”, done in 1979, sits in the park by the Metropolitan Museum of art off of E 80th Street. My next mission is to get some pictures of these sculptures and post them for you. I’ll link them when I do.

Noguchi opened  and personally designed this museum in 1985, at that point this area was still mainly industrial. Today this area of Long Island City, Queens is quickly developing with brand new high rise condos that overlook the East River and quaint cafes.

©2012 Danee Gilmartin All rights reserved

“But where in New York can one find a woman with grace, elegance, taste and culture? A woman suitable for a king? Queens!”

And remember this one, “Girl, you look so good, someone ought to put you on a plate and sop you up with a biscuit!”

And this one, (Cab Driver, pulling up to apartment) “Is this shitty enough for you?” (Prince Akeem) “Yes it is!”

Ok, I’ll stop now. I couldn’t help myself with a little Coming to America reference.

Not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this to you but I lived in Queens for a bit while I was doing my undergrad degree. This was about 10 years ago, so I was intrigued to see all the development that has taken place in the past 10 years and has as of late started to ramp up even more, especially in Long Island City. The bank of the East River in Long Island City seems like a fantastic place for a sculpture garden, so my first stop was the Socrates Sculpture Park. It’s a 1/4 of a mile trek from the closest stop on the N/Q train but it was a sunny winter day so I was up for it.

The site was previously an abandoned landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when sculptor Mark di Suvero lead a group of artists and community members to create an en plein air exhibition space and neighborhood park. Today Socrates Sculpture Park is an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program that also offers a wide variety of free public programs.

The views of Upper Manhattan and Roosevelt Island were peaceful this Saturday in January with no rats in sight. On to the Isamu Noguchi Museum only one block away…