To call Deborah Masters’ artwork heavy
would be a gross understatement.
The daughter of a bridge engineer, Masters likes to work on
a large scale, with cranes and concrete.
The Brooklyn Public Library will host a talk on Jan. 11 by the
accomplished Brooklyn sculptor in conjunction with the installation
of her latest work, "Angel in Crown Heights," at the
Central Library.
Her installation in the library’s Lobby Gallery is a larger-than-life-sized
representation of her assistant Angel Mohammed, surrounded by
pencil drawings of the street where he grew up.
"He’s a kid I worked with for six years because he had
an interest in art, but there was no art taught in the high school
that he went to," Masters told GO Brooklyn. "I was
asked if I would do drawing with him.
"He learns very quickly, and it was no trouble and now
he just got into Pratt [Institute], which is exciting. He’s a
terrific artist, and he’s the most talented I’ve every taught."
Masters said the installation, which she created with Mohammed
in her Brooklyn Navy Yard studio, is about the subject and the
house he grew up in. The figure of the young black man is seated
on a box, and his pencil is poised over a tablet resting on his
knee. The sculpture is cast in Ultracal, which Masters describes
as akin to concrete.
"This was the first time I worked with Ultracal and it
was very hard to work with," said Masters, 51. The piece’s
surface, given an earthy, terracotta-colored wash, has a rough-hewn
quality, yet the sculpture’s lines are fluid and round. In fact,
the massive head is reminiscent of serene representations of
Buddha.
The three large pencil drawings that cover each of the three
walls surrounding the figure were done by Mohammed with Masters’
assistance.
"He had keys to my studio, and he totally did them on
his own," said Masters. "I anticipated working on them
much more, but he did such a great job." The drawings are
of the street on which Mohammed grew up, populated with classic
Brooklyn brownstones and trees.
"The main panel, which sits directly behind the figure,
is a drawing of his house and the stairs," said Masters.
The drawings surrounding the sketching figure give the viewer
the feeling that they are seeing inside the figure’s mind – that
this Crown Heights street is a state of mind as much as being
the environment that surrounds him. Viewers can enter the installation
and walk around the sculpture taking in its Herculean proportions
and its sense of quiet power.
"Angel in Crown Heights" is part of a series of three
installations called "Crossing Brooklyn," curated by
Marian Griffiths of Smack Mellon gallery, that will be displayed
at the Central Library.
"It’s a strange sculpture," said Masters. "[Angel’s]
gigantic he’s 6-foot, 3-inches. He’s big and strong, and he
has a gentle, introspective aspect to him. The huge and strong
compared to the quite gentlemanly characteristic of him – going
from large to small – I think I was successful in getting that."
On the second-floor balcony, six of Masters’ colored pencil
drawings are on display. These six sketches were part of her
plans for her 28-panel mural, "Walking New York," which
Masters was commissioned to install at JFK International Airport
in 2001.
The sketches on display are Brooklyn scenes – "Wedding
under the Brooklyn Bridge," "Dinner in the Artist’s
Studio" (in Masters’ studio), "Botanica" from
Flatbush, "York Street subway station," "Garment
Workers" from DUMBO, and "Manhattan Bridge" –
but the "Walking New York" murals contain scenes from
all over the five boroughs.
The installation of Masters’ "Walking New York" was
part of the opening of JFK’s Terminal 4. For the project, Masters
created 28 narrative reliefs out of fiberglass, each 8-and-a-half
feet high by 10 feet wide, covering a 350-foot-wide span above
the immigration booths of the terminal. Her sculpted murals,
with reliefs up to 6-inches deep and 800-pounds each, now greet
passengers with vibrant scenes of New York life. The JFK wall
relief was cited as the best public art project of 2001 by the
Municipal Art Society.
On Jan. 11 at 2 pm, Masters will show a short film and give
a talk about the "complicated" process of making the
"Walking New York" murals.
"We had to take a window out of my studio," said Masters.
"A crane came and we took all 28 pieces out of the seventh-floor
window. I love doing things with cranes. My dad built bridges,
so I love the construction thing, but I usually don’t have that
kind of budget. But in this case that was the cheapest way to
get them out. We got them all out in four hours."
Masters’ huge, pink relief of Coney Island in front of Long
Island University’s Brooklyn campus is 16 feet tall. She has
created not one but dozens of concrete reliefs for a piece commissioned
by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to one day adorn
the Ocean Parkway Viaduct, the last stop on the D-line.
"I like knowing how to use hoists and cranes," she
said. "It gets beyond physical ability and into the cleverness
of using lifting tools.
"Big pieces are my natural scale."
"Angel in Crown Heights"
will be on display through Feb. 27 at the Brooklyn Public Library’s
Central Library Lobby Gallery in Grand Army Plaza. On Jan. 11
at 2 pm, Masters will give a talk. Central Library hours are
Monday through Thursday, 9 am to 8 pm; Friday and Saturday, 9
am to 6 pm; and Sunday, 1 pm to 5 pm. For more information, call
(718) 230-2100 or visit the library’s Web site at www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.
The "Crossing Brooklyn" series will continue with
works by Tom Kotik (March 6-April 25) and John Beech (May 2-June
27).
