Artist Jen Liu Brings ‘Melon Mysticism’ to Manhattan Bridge
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Affixed to the Manhattan Bridge chain-link fencing above Forsyth Street is a series of artwork. Arc your head upward; there it is.
Artist Jen Liu created the five banners, collectively called “Melon Mysticism for Everyone.” Each panel features a watermelon carved into a mandela pattern that is eaten by different animals: goat, horse, chicken, and sheep. Chinatown diversity, the food market below, and notions of unity and community were reportedly the creative inspiration. Moreover, Liu notes that “the diverse community that exists in the Chinatown markets is not an abstraction, but something informal, messy and full of life.”
The project was installed at the end of June, and is the third such collaboration between the pARTners track of the DOT art program and the International Studio & Curatorial Program. It’ll remain in place for a period of eleven months (roughly May 2014).
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