Artist: Genesis Belanger

Title: Heads or Tails

Location: City Hall Park

Installed by: Public Art Fund through Nov. 15

Bio: Born in 1978 in Massachusetts, Genesis Belanger lives and works in the city; she received her master’s in fine arts from Hunter in 2012. Working in materials including porcelain, stoneware, metal, wood, upholstery and painting, her practice is centered on sculptural objects and tableaux that critique capitalist production and consumption.

This is Genesis Belanger’s first major public exhibit in the city. It features three sculptural scenes that play with commonplace park features. As visitors discover these scenes throughout the park, Belanger’s sculptures invite reflection on humanity’s connection to nature, our ability to discern real from fake, and how civic values are represented in our public spaces. These pieces were sculpted in clay first and then cast in more resilient materials.

For example, “Distressed Assets” assembles a flock of concrete birds in the City Hall Park Fountain, where the birds pluck pennies from the water, marking the U.S. Mint’s retirement of the one-cent coin earlier this year.

“This exhibition marks a compelling shift for Genesis Belanger, an artist known for her astute observation of the creation of desire in domestic space,” said Melanie Kress, senior curator at Public Art Fund. “Here, she trains her eye on the public realm, drawing on the familiar language of civic sculpture – allegory, ornament, garden architecture – while introducing subtle shifts that reveal considerations of value, justice, and authenticity.”

In another scene, two bronze figures offer Belanger’s interpretation of Lady Justice — her sculptures are only partially blind – not out of impartiality, but self-regard.

“I’m interested in creating work that reflects the contradictions we navigate every day, where life can be both exhilarating and devastating at the same time,” said Belanger. “These experiences are not in opposition, but instead they coexist. My work seeks to reflect a nuanced picture of our present.”