Below is a mosaic by Salvador Dali.
He's likely rolling over in his grave.
The Hall of Science mosaic appears to be intact.
So does the one representing the NYC Building.
Wait a minute...I typed too soon. There's an ugly dark cloud over today's Queens Museum!
The Queens Museum of ART is inside the park, yet they allow these mosaics to sit in this condition? For shame.Photos by Nick Normal
Previous coverage of the blighted mosaics can be read here.
17 comments:
An $80 million facelift for the Queens Museum but where are the customers??? I've passed by a few times and have yet to see any crowds much less a tour group! That money should have gone to save the NYS Pavillion.
Maybe I haven't been looking but I've never seen close-up photos of these mosaics before.
I'm surprised they haven't been better distributed on the interwebs to create interest in restoring them to their original condition. They're not only part of Queens history they're also really beautiful.
I wish I could compile a list for city-funded cultural institutions what the number of visitors per dollar of funding is on a annual basis. I'm sure QMA/QM would be dead last.
An $80 million facelift for the Queens Museum but where are the customers??? I've passed by a few times and have yet to see any crowds much less a tour group! That money should have gone to save the NYS Pavillion
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Queens museum will be used to suck all the oxygen out of the room for all other institutions and to ensure that the Queens history is given the 'right' spin that will not generate controversy, landmark preservation.
Its focus will be narrow - on immigration, the underground railroad - in short - anything that underpins the state (read Democratic Party agenda).
Compare QHS to the other borough wide historical societies to get my drift.
Finally, like the Queens library, it will be an unending source of capital projects with a board that comes from the academic background of the ce-ment industry.
The overall treatment of Flushing Meadows heritage really showcases what this borough has become:
ramshackle
ignorant
no pride or self-respect
This has been happening in the open for decades interrupted only by the occasional polite whine.
This borough is controlled by a bunch of drooling knuckle dragging neanderthals that lord over thick headed ciphers.
But boy oh boy give an immigrant, ethnic, or a gay a mean look and hearings and headlines go off the charts.
Its funny they they can find money to put illegals through college but we have no money to fix one of our great historical structures.
Hold on,there is a ground mosaic done by Salvador Dali and they did not preserve it?I say remove it and put in a museum,but some idiot decided to ruin it by filling a crack in it with an imitation of the design on the top edge.
these officials and parks people don't give a shit,never have gave a shit,and will continue not to give a shit(sorry for the repetition.really,really truly sorry,truly.)
Like the millstones at Queens Plaza in Jimmy's district. 350 years old, falling apart, and covered with grafitti.
George S of the local civic and library board is responsible.
why?
The weird thing is they have qualified people with art students helpers from all over the country willing to fix them pro bono. For years its been LAY OFF, LAY OFF, LAY OFF F_CK OFF !
What bullshit, every year the tennis freaks from all over the world pick out 100s, perhaps 1000s of colored tile pieces as souvenirs.
Restoration:
Those yahoo at the park dept clearly do not know what they are doing. They pieces need to be numbered and removed, then start over with a fresh backing and all new modern fiber grout to lock and seal it all in. The missing tiles can be replicated easy and cheap, there are only 12 basic colors. The racketeer unions and political hacks need to step aside and let some professionals restore them before the point of no return.
(perhaps that's what they want)
I seen European USTA sponsor's like LEXUS, KIA, BMW drive display cars over those mosaics. I even heard the "cracking" and was blocking and cursing one of the drivers out. A cops came over (then several cops)scolded and ran me ME for warrants wile letting those USTA Euroshitz with NO F_CKING RESPECT WHAT SO EVER continue to do damage as they please. This was followed by as tennis spectator shitheads pilfered freshly dislodged tile as I was told "start walking before you go for a ride" !!
The cops were letting them steal !!
Anything Parks oversees turns to crap!
Their staff are the dumbest of the dumb.
Like the millstones at Queens Plaza in Jimmy's district.
Good point. Will the Flushing Meadows crowd support the Astoria community's efforts to move the millstones out of harm's way?
The last we checked Queens Civic Congress's Corey (remember him?) refused to support the community's fight and favored George Stamatiades who went public stating 'what is the big deal - they are just rocks'.
On so many levels that summarizes in a nutshell the problem of Queens.
Since then, ignoring everyone's dire warnings, pieces have fallen off and they were covered with graffiti. The Q101 bus jumps the curb and misses them by inches several times a day - a nice way to treat something 350 years old.
The case for moving them is even stronger because parks doesn't want to take care of historic objects or to waste taxpayers money maintaining them - even EDC's support of that locations has noticeably cooled once they came to their senses.
Since we are talking about the library lately - which cannot give its workers a raise or buy books - perhaps someone should look if any resources were wasted transporting them to a branch for display and back again while the plaza was torn up - despite alternate free space available.
Was library resources used for library board member Stamatiades' personal agenda?
One of the reasons that we never get anywhere is that our victories are narrow - helping one set of constituents while ignoring the overall problem - which means we fight the same battles over and over again.
Now that the Flushing Meadows crowd is making a good case for their cause, will they open this up to canvassing the entire borough?
For example, the on-going problem with colonial cemeteries, historic character of entire communities, historic signage etc.
This is a real opportunity to start to make some headway.
I call for a real conference on historic preservation in the borough of Queens - not under the aegis of some dreary carefully scripted thing held at Queens College with the borough historian and Queens Historical calling the shots - but something sponsored by Queens Civic Congress that gives grass roots groups across the borough an unfettered opportunity to go public with their concerns.
Now that would be a game changer!
I went to the museum yesterday because my office let us out early. Two of the museum's workers helped my car get into the icy parking lot. Inside, many of the artworks were related to Occupy Wall Street, the 99 Percent, etc.
Perhaps museum director Tom Finkelpearl thinks that the working-class residents of Corona would be attracted to this glorification of poverty and revolution. Perhaps he is trying to kiss up to Mayor De Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito.
I enjoyed the photo exhibit on the islands of New York City. It was about our city produced by a Queens-based artist. That's what the museum needs.
Anyway, the museum was totally empty. A staffer told me that most of its visitors are schools. What can the museum do to attract the average Queens resident?
Perhaps he is trying to kiss up to Mayor De Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito.
BINGO
Anyway, the museum was totally empty.
WELL LETS TAKE CARE OF THIS BUY GIVING THE PEOPLE THAT MADE THIS HAPPEN EVEN MORE MONEY!
A staffer told me that most of its visitors are schools.
ABOUT WHAT YOU EXPECT IN SOCIETIES WHERE CULTURE IS DICTATED BY THE STATE'S NEEDS.
What can the museum do to attract the average Queens resident?
SHUT DOWN ALL THE OTHER MUSEUMS SO THE STATE RUN MUSEUM IS THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN.
BESIDES, WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
IN QUEENS ONLY A TINY HANDFUL OF LUMBERING ELEPHANTS GETS ALL THE FUNDING AND ATTENTION.
IN THE REAL WORLD, ONLY THE SHARP AND CLEVER SURVIVE.
AS ITS TAXPAYERS MONEY, ALL THE NON-PROFITS SHOULD BE ON EQUAL FOOTING.
Funny, the mosaic circle at Central Park's Strawberry Field seems to always be in perfect shape.
Anyway, the museum was totally empty. A staffer told me that most of its visitors are schools. What can the museum do to attract the average Queens resident?
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Be more accessible, for one. Its not the easiest place to get to. IN a more urban setting, im sure it would get more attention and visitors.
Save this icon!
www.nyspavilion.org
http://www.qchron.com/opinion/editorial/to-preserve-the-state-pavilion/article_c13f73e3-7bb4-5ce3-a59e-111e654637cd.html
The time is now!
Sad.
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