TUMBLING MIRAGES DEBUTS IN
UNION SQUARE PARK

Gigantic spheres by Dennis Oppenheim are
NYC’s newest public art installation

New York (June 19, 2008) – The Union Square Partnership and NYC Department of Parks & Recreation are pleased to present the public art installation Tumbling Mirages by Dennis Oppenheim. The colorful, futuristic tumbleweed-like sculptures will inhabit the southeast triangle of Union Square Park through November 9, 2008.

Tumbling Mirages consists of three gigantic spheres 15 feet in diameter, made of steel and fiberglass. Oppenheim’s new work follows a long trajectory from his early rejection of the gallery space in favor of the outdoors and even his own body as sites for art. The project is sponsored by Edelman Gallery, in cooperation with NYC Parks & Recreation and the Union Square Partnership.

“With thousands of visitors daily, Union Square Park is one the busiest public art galleries in the world,” said Jennifer Falk, Executive Director, Union Square Partnership. “There is no better setting for David Oppenheim’s amazing installation, and its cutting-edge innovation is a reflection of this neighborhood and the energy in the district.”

“Dennis Oppenheim’s latest site-specific art installation, Tumbling Mirages, resonates perfectly in Union Square Park, one of the bastions of creative expression in New York City,” said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “The work’s large, round steel structures reflect the continual motion and activity within the park. I encourage New Yorkers to take some time away from the daily hustle and bustle of city life to experience the latest piece of contemporary art to find a home in Union Square Park.”

“Tumbling Mirages are a hybrid sculpture, combining the characteristics of tumbleweed with the optical illusion emanating from a desert mirage,” said Dennis Oppenheim, who lives and works in New York.

Born in Washington State in 1938, Oppenheim studied art at California College of Arts and Crafts and Stanford University. He has lived and worked in New York City since 1967. Oppenheim’s diverse artistic output over the past thirty years has included earth art, conceptual art, performance, and monumental sculpture referencing architecture and machines. In addition to numerous permanent commissions and outdoor exhibitions, Oppenheim has been featured in one-person exhibitions at major museums in the United States and abroad, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

In addition to showing his work extensively in major galleries and museums around the world, Oppenheim has displayed artistic works recently in New York City parks. In 2006, Oppenheim exhibited Drawing and Photographs from Recent Alternative Landscape Installations in Central Park’s Arsenal Gallery, based in conjunction with larger scale exhibitions in Foley Square and Central Park. In 2004, his Entrance to a Garden sculpture was on view at Tramway Park to greet commuters from Roosevelt Island.

About the Union Square Partnership

The Union Square Partnership is a community-based, nonprofit organization working to foster the best possible metropolitan neighborhood for its residents, businesses, property owners and employers. USP is comprised of a Local Development Corporation and New York City’s first Business Improvement District, two organizations that have served as catalysts behind the area’s transformation.

About Parks & Recreation’s Public Art Program

Since 1967, collaborations with arts organizations and artists have produced over 1,000 public art projects in City parks. Committed to the exhibition of art by emerging and established artists, Parks & Recreation has supported projects ranging from international exhibitions in flagship parks to community works in neighborhood parks, playgrounds, and traffic islands.

Contact: Shane Kavanagh (USP) (212) 889-0808
Cristina DeLuca (Parks) (212) 360-1311

###