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Sprawling 'Eutopia' Art Installation Comes to Staten Island's Snug Harbor

By Nicholas Rizzi | July 25, 2016 3:43pm
 The show is the first full group show by Gowanus based Vanderbilt Republic.
'Eutopia' Snug Harbor
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LIVINGSTON — A new group exhibit in Snug Harbor aims to show what a utopia could look like with art pieces related to the area's past and present.

"Eutopia," which opened last month in the former sailor's retirement community, features all seven artists from the creative agency Vanderbilt Republic in their first ever full group show.

The exhibit features paintings, site-specific installations and more spread out in four spots around historic Snug Harbor.

"It was a revelation," said George Del Barrio, founder of the Gowanus-based Vanderbilt Republic and curator of the show. "The potential was abound and to work with such historical settings."

The installations fill Snug Harbor's galleries in the Main Hall, New House Center for Contemporary Art and Hyphen Over Shibone Alley. The exhibit also has several pieces inside the Chinese Scholar's Garden designed to blend in with the site, Del Barrio said.

Del Barrio said his artists chose or created pieces designed to show utopia in a "practical sense," while also responding to the history of Snug Harbor and its present status as a park.

For one piece, artists found the words "On the Edge Of" painted on a wall underneath layers of paint they were chipping away for an "erosion painting."

Nobody from the museum could date when the words were written, so the artists left it as it is and painted "It Will All Disappear" as a response on the wall across from it.

"Literally scraping away at the history here, it's intoxicating," Del Barrio said.

Officials from Snug Harbor approached the group several months ago asking if it wanted to do any installations at the museum. Del Barrio, a Queens native, said he never visited the spot, but once he toured the gardens and landmarked buildings, he knew he wanted to put an exhibit here.

"Eutopia" features many pieces created specifically for Snug Harbor, including a series of large paintings by Dale Williams.

Aside from the works, the group plans to host "Fook! A Festival of Subversion" at the park on Aug. 13. The festival will be curated by Jeff Goldberg and Darius James and features performance art, Japanese butoh dances and more with "socio-political" undertones, Del Barrio said.

Near the end of the exhibit's run, Del Barrio is working to secure official TED talks with the artists featured in the show at Snug Harbor on Sept. 10.

"Eutopia" will be open Wednesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 1000 Richmond Terrace, until Sept. 11. Admission is $5. For more information, visit the Vanderbilt Republic's website.