Kai Bird, Michele Oka Doner, Jeremy Doner, Fred Doner, All Photos by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan, PMC
The Park Avenue Armory is known for presenting artists’ work indoors, including the renowned and exclusive Winter Show, but Monday night marked the debut of something new and different – outdoor art that anyone can pass by and observe – no ticket required.
Talisman Close-up, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
Where can I see this art installation, you might ask? The answer: Look up! They are located in the trees on the Park Avenue Mall, between 66th and 67th Streets, directly facing the Armory. Especially interesting at night, three hundred fiber-optic-lit hand-formed “heads” with a sort of spooky mask quality (more on this later), known as Talisman, were created by artist Michele Oka Doner.
Barbara Tober and Michele Oka Doner, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
Her work as an artist and author spans five decades. This is the first sculptural installation of its kind installed under The Fund for Park Avenue and will be on display through November, witnessing the changing seasons.
The audience, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
“The Talisma, currently residing on Park Avenue, draws on both anthropological and mythic references to the inhabitants of our City, ancestral and current,” remarked Michele Oka Doner, who specializes in works evolving from the study and appreciation of the natural world.
“They are urban fireflies, lighting up the night…Inhabiting a Sacred Grove, seasonally bare in early spring, then sheltered in a leafy dome as summer ripens, Talisman will continue to change during their residency on Park Avenue Mall.” – Michele Oka Doner
Marilyn Kirschner, Ruben Toledo, Laurel Marcus, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
The concept and execution were two years in the making, all in the artist’s loft residence/studio in Soho, which she refers to as a “cave.” The Talismans range in size from 5” to a foot-and-a-half and are made of pulp and organic materials, while the trees are all species native to New York. The installation took four days to complete with cranes and a team of ten.
Micky Wolfson, Michele Doner, Kai Bird, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
Monday evening’s opening cocktail celebration, hosted by Elihu Rose and Barbara Tober, was attended by about 150 guests. It included a conversation between Oka Doner, Micky Wolfson (founder of the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami Beach), and Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian/author Kai Bird.
When asked if the masklike heads (derived from folklore and mythic forms) were intended to look somewhat eerie and mysterious, Oka Doner said that they felt happy and joyous to her.
One of a dozen seafood towers provided by Keith McNally, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
After the talk and a viewing of the installation, guests were invited to the iconic and imposing “Tiffany Room,” where champagne and a dozen seafood towers of shrimp, lobster tail, and oysters were provided by Balthazar’s Keith McNally, a longtime friend of the artist.
Susan Rose, Elihu Rose, Laurie Beckelman, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
Notable guests welcomed by Oka Doner’s sons Jordan Doner and Jeremy Doner, and her husband, Fred Doner, included HRH Prince Sultan bin Fahad bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz and Princess Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz, Paola Antonelli, Carrie Rebora Barratt, Laurie Beckelman, Cora Cahan, Amy Cappellazzo, Kyle DeWoody, Layla Diba, Tiffany Dubin, Jane Farhi and James Barron, Joanna Fisher, Anthony Haden-Guest, Rachel Hovnanian, Yue-Sai Kan and Alan Pollack, Harold Koda and Alan Kornberg, Irina and Andres Serrano, Betsy Sussler, and Ruben Toledo.
Alex Shuman and Harold Koda, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
If you’ve passed through the Miami International Airport, you may have seen Michele Oka Doner’s permanent installation (this time you have to look down) as your feet pass over her mile and a quarter long concourse of bronze inlaid shells set in terrazzo, christened “A Walk on the Beach”. Her artistic production includes sculpture, public art, prints, drawings, functional objects, artist books, costume and set design, video, and other media.
Talisman Installation on Park Avenue, photo by Sean Zanni & Patrick McMullan
Michele is the recipient of many awards and her works can be found in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Chicago Art Institute, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (Smithsonian), the Louvre-Paris, Victoria & Albert Museum, London as well as in the museum collections at the University of Michigan, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Oxford.
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