Where the female’s torso would be, there
is a zigzag cutout, reminiscent of a puzzle piece, or maybe half
a bear trap. The claw-like shape rests on curvaceous legs, twisted
in a half crouch and flexing a naked derriere. Beneath the imposing
posterior lies another cutout: the smaller, missing half of the
puzzle/trap, from which a male hand reaches upward, yearning
toward the towering bronze buttocks above.
A group of local women chuckle and joke with one another as they
walk past Soapbox Gallery’s storefront-style display window at
dusk. The shopping-bag-toting ladies seem more amused than shocked
by the whimsical sculpture illuminated within.
"I see an ass!" said one of the women with gusto.
Sculptor and gallery-owner Jimmy Greenfield was pleased. "It
looks like we’re getting a reaction," he said. "That’s
great!"
When the gallery officially opens on June 30, the public will
be in for more controversial imagery than the forlorn vision
of lost love spelled out by Greenfield’s quirky bronze nude.
"The point of Soapbox Gallery is to impose art onto the
street," says Greenfield. "I wanted to challenge the
community with a gallery space that’s integrated into the public
landscape."
Greenfield has carved a piece out of his Prospect Heights studio
and built a white box, 10-feet-high, 10-feet-wide and 7-feet-deep.
The box sits just inside the large glass double doors that open
onto the street from the ground floor space, forming a large
display case at street level. Greenfield’s goal: to display controversial,
"political" art that might not otherwise be seen by
the public.
Greenfield says he got the idea for Soapbox Gallery when it became
apparent that many in this industrial neighborhood, where artists
like Louise Bourgeois have lived and worked for decades, would
be displaced by Bruce Ratner’s planned Nets arena complex. Plans
for the block will result in the construction of a luxury housing
and retail complex right across the street from the building
Greenfield owns.
"I wanted Brooklyn artists to have a way of speaking out
against the displacement of so many artists in the area,"
said Greenfield. "They’ve already declared one of the buildings
over there ’unfit for habitation’ – which it’s not – and the
tenants were forced out. I figured, since I’m going to stay here
through all these changes, why not give a voice to the community
out of this space, where it will be seen by everyone walking
by?"
Greenfield is delighted at the way his plan is shaping up. The
clean, well-lit display area is ready to house changing exhibitions
that will go up every two weeks. But Greenfield says that he’s
not limiting the gallery to neighborhood artists or local issues.
"It doesn’t just have to be Ratner stuff. Anyone anywhere
in the world can submit their work [for consideration],"
he says. "I’m open to all kinds of political work: art that
makes a radical, controversial statement or something uplifting
or more abstract." Greenfield is hoping to attract video
and multimedia installations to the space, as well as more traditional
media. He even has plans in the works to use a pioneering audio
broadcasting device, called "hypersonic sound."
"My friend Woody Norris developed this thing, that allows
you to direct the sound with pinpoint accuracy," says Greenfield.
"It’s perfect for things like museum displays, because the
viewer can listen to the audio at each station without using
headphones.
[With hypersonic sound], passers-by would be able to hear the
sound only while standing directly in front of the window."
Greenfield has arranged to borrow the hypersonic sound system.
Borrowing things is a major tactic for Greenfield, who is financing
Soapbox Gallery out of his own pocket, with the help of friends
and fellow artists. A former carpenter who now devotes his time
to creating large-scale sculpture, Greenfield has more surprises
up his sleeve. Tucked away in the back half of his large studio
space, behind a massive double door, is the series of bronzes
and mixed media sculptures he’s been working on for five years.
In one piece, an array of monumental arms performs the "sieg
heil" in perfect military formation. Somewhere in the midst
of the up-thrusting arms, a small hand is holding up a rudely
defiant finger. In another piece, a pair of gesticulating arms
battle one another in a small barbed-wire enclosure that’s part
prison, part boxing ring. All told, there are at least a dozen
major works that the sculptor has been keeping under wraps until
the big day comes.
"About 20 people have seen these up till now," according
to Greenfield. The bronzes will debut at the gallery’s grand
opening reception, along with works by Wanda Acosta, John Arruda,
Jeremy Eagle, Mark Hurwitt, Sandy Osip, Tim Slowinski, James
Stuart and Jeramy Turner. In addition, there will be performances
by singer-songwriter Judy Gorman, poet Pam Sneed and the Yippy
Skippy Puppet Theatre.
"I’m going to put the Nazi salute sculpture in the window
for the opening, as soon as I build a stand for it," says
Greenfield.
The soft-spoken sculptor admits that he’s a bit nervous about
having his first one-man show.
"I hope people don’t laugh at me," says Greenfield,
only half-joking. Behind him, the disembodied arms he’s fashioned
are gathered, like ghosts pleading wordlessly to be heard.
Soapbox Gallery’s grand opening reception will be June 30 at
7 pm at 636 Dean St. between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues in
Prospect Heights. Admission is free. For more information, call
(718) 875-3326 or visit www.soapboxgallery.org.
