Granite Replica Bedroom Closet Honors Personal and Collective Memories in New York City AIDS Memorial Park — Colossal
Art
#Jim Hodges #lgbtq+ #memorial #public art #sculpture
“Craig’s closet” (2023), granite and bronze, 90 x 57 x 28 1/2 in. Installed in New York City AIDS Memorial Park. Photo by Daniel Greer, © Jim Hodges, courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, shared with permission
In 1981, the emergency room of San Vincenzo Hospital Manhattan has begun to see an influx of young gay and bisexual men with startling weight loss, pneumonia, rare infections, and compromised immunity. Two years later, the HIV virus was identified as the cause of AIDS, which quickly reached epidemic proportions, and St. Vincent’s opened the first and largest AIDS ward on the East Coast.
In 2016 a public park became the headquarters of the New York AIDS Memorial, in honor of the more than 100,000 residents who died of the disease, as well as those who lobbied for medical research and access to medicines and fought discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community. Marking a continuation of the memorial’s public art program, a new sculpture by Jim Hodges is both a heartfelt ode to a young New Yorker who succumbed to illness and an invitation to consider complex histories and personal and collective memories.
“Craig’s Closet”, a granite and bronze work that stands like a monolith in the middle of the park, considers the personal, metaphorical and physical meaning of the ubiquitous storage space. It’s an exact replica of the bedroom closet of musician Craig Ducote, who shared the house with Hodges until his death in 2016. T-shirts and jackets hang neatly next to a stack of drawers, a cane, various containers and ornaments. -tricks. While the work references the artist’s personal relationship and memories, the simultaneous universality and specificity of a wardrobe, or objects accumulated over time, speaks to the shared experience of loss.
‘Craigs Closet’ is on view through May 2024, and you can find out more about Hodges’ website.
#Jim Hodges #lgbtq+ #memorial #public art #sculpture
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