Art in Lockdown
During the Covid lockdowns, New York was empty and most Central Park staff went remote, so I did a bunch of illegal art installations. Places that previously were packed with activity had no one around, especially lucky for me, security.
I had a few run-ins and especially during one a lady became very angry and threatened to write me a ticket and I was - lady I am on food stamps, I am not paying a ticket. Cops were involved a few times but out of respect for Central Park and for the institution which I love I never became confrontational myself, they do their jobs and I do mine. I am not an activist, I am just an improver.
I remember during one of my bridge installations I was ordered to take the installation down throughout the day and I would take one hand down, walk in a circle, and see the park person seeing me walking away with a hand, I would come around and put two more hands up.
My installations are designed with mobility in mind. They can travel on the subway in a bag and can be taken anywhere on my own power, by my two hands. They are light and nimble. Easy to install and de-install within a day so I do not seek permits. They get put up in the morning and taken down in the evening.
The artist with the installation in Central Park.
The artist with the installation on the subway.
We draw brushes and our holsters hold paint. Performance and Installation with Public Participation on Election Day 2020 at Union Square created and performed by American artist Mirena Rhee
An installation with Giant Hands at the Wisteria Pergola in Central Park created illegally over the summer by American Artist Mirena Rhee. A series of Three One Day installations in Early September where the artist would hang the hands in the morning and take them down in the evening. Photographed by the Artist.
An installation with Giant Hands at the Wisteria Pergola in Central Park created illegally over the summer by American Artist Mirena Rhee. A series of Three One Day installations in Early September where the artist would hang the hands in the morning and take them down in the evening. Photographed by the Artist.
An installation with Giant Hands at the Wisteria Pergola in Central Park created illegally over the summer by American Artist Mirena Rhee. A series of Three One Day installations in Early September where the artist would hang the hands in the morning and take them down in the evening. Photographed by the Artist.
An installation with Giant Hands at the Wisteria Pergola in Central Park created illegally over the summer by American Artist Mirena Rhee. A series of Three One Day installations in Early September where the artist would hang the hands in the morning and take them down in the evening. Photographed by the Artist.
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
Hands Crop Circle is an installation with Giant hands created at the end of May, 2020 - the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan - in Central Park by American Artist Mirena Rhee
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
Hands Crop Circle installation created at the end of the Lockdown in Manhattan in Central Park, 2020
One New York is a Performance and Installation with Giant Hands on Times Square in New York City created in May 2020.
Download a one minute high-resolution video here.
The Greatest City in the World Lives through its Art.
Beautiful Song & Jazz improv ( by a Times Square street musician not seen but heard only in the video ) and One New York - Performance and Installation with Giant Hands on Times Square.
Hands Icosahedron - Performance and Installation at the Armory Show in New York City, March 8th 2020
The world was closing around me as I was doing the performance.
30 x 30 inches, pen and ink on hot pressed board, 2020.
Click on the image for high resolution.
My latest old Masters drawing using dip pen and ink on hot pressed board created during the lockdown in New York City in the sping of 2020.
A hands and solids adventure into the mind. Using my own old Masters technique of drawing with subtle brown and red inks.
The third dimension or the dimensions are spilling on the one side of the drawing.
Peeling the hands is like peeling an orange towards an unknown destination
A Hands and Solids garden, when I draw a feel more like a Sherlock Holmes rather than Michelangelo, I'm an investigator.
It's not really as much about the drawing but about the disegno or the design and the line. I have to admit I'm not much of a colorist.
Why I Draw
Most people who work today,
most artists,
especially people who draw with pen and ink,
draw stuff.
Either representational or some doodles
or some comic book stuff, or manga, which is more close to illustration. So most of painting today is either doodles, or illustrations. or of course, tutorials, everybody does tutorials. The difference between myself and those people is that I draw ideas of the mind.
I make maps of my synapses.
These ideas draw on a body of work which has been coming for a long time, for many years, and will go on for many years. So, it is a stream of ideas. A stream of developing visuals.
So, the difference, again between myself and everybody else that draws is that I draw ideas, and I use my imagination to create worlds. And not just illustrate, or doodle. So there's a lot of intellectual work behind the work. A lot of intellectual labor goes into my visions, into the work.
Additionally, I use very special inks. I use very subtle inks. I don't use Higgins, actually I use Higgins but rarely because this ink is very assertive, very strong, and thick ink.
I don't like thick ink.
Also the paper I use is very special. I don't use any kind of paper to draw on, I use only very special paper that is very responsive to the painting, and is absolutely an ideal match. So, the technique. The ideas. And the materials are a perfect match.
Indulge your craving for old fashioned drawing.
Click on the image for high resolution.
It could take you literally years to untangle this drawing, there are numbers in it and all kinds of meanings encoded in the objects and the hands, created in NYC over the last couple of months.
Digital Video, dimensions variable, 2020
Animation created during the Manhattan Lockdown due to the Covid Pandemic, inspired by New York City and its people.
Watch high resolution video here:
https://www.mirenarhee.art/electric-nyc-animation-mirena-rhee.mp4
digital video, dimensions variable, 2020
A series of animations inspired by New York City and created during the lockdown in Manhattan.
Watch high-resolution version here:
https://bit.ly/HandsElectricNYC
Hands New York City is a series of animations created during the Manhattan lockdown and inspired by New York City and its people.
A city electric and luminous with many people, we are all so different and we live in peace.
With Hands Empire State Building. I have been watching the heart of New York City beat on top of the Empire State Building, I watched the moon rise over it.
Created by American NYC based Contemporary artist Mirena Rhee while in lockdown in Manhattan.
Giant Hand Paintings, April 2020
Painted the Red Hand in March 2020 while getting down with Covid but not knowing it yet.
48 x 36 inches, acrylic and ink on paper, 2020
Painted in Manhattan at the end of March 2020 while sick with Covid but didn’t know it yet.
The next day I had trouble breathing and went to the ER at Beth Israel on 17th street. All ended up well and I recovered but the experience of being scared to death on the evening of April 1st, heading to the hospital on foot, crossing Manhattan, all the events leading up to and afterwards left a lasting impression on me, events that I will never forget - I am writing a book with drawings about it.
A part of an ongoing series of Giant Hand Paintings on different surfaces.
My thought process is like a thread which comes from past images and ideas and which stretches into the future and on this thread hang various fruits.. and vegetables.
See high resolution image of the painting here:
48 x 36 inches, acrylic and ink on paper, 2020
Click on the image for high resolution.
Created in Manhattan in one day towards the end of March while I was getting sick with Covid but at this point I had no symptoms. Inexplicably I had the strong desire to dance around the painting like some strange shamanic ritual.
This was the first painting in the series and a few days later I had trouble breathing and went to the ER at Beth Israel on 17th street. All ended up well and I recovered but the experience of being scared to death on the evening of April 1st, heading to the hospital on foot, crossing Manhattan, all the events leading up to and afterwards left a lasting impression on me, events that I will never forget - I am writing a book with drawings about it.
A part of an ongoing series of Giant Hand Paintings on different surfaces.
My thought process is like a thread which comes from past images and ideas and which stretches into the future and on this thread hang various fruits.. and vegetables.
See high resolution image of the painting here:
Hands and Archimedean Solids, a book of pen and ink drawings, 2020
Inspired by Leonardo and with my Covid diary written in the margins.
