Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. It's time now for the next installment of our 100 Pieces of Art series. For the past year, in honor of WNYC's centennial, we've asked an expert in the art world to come up with a list of 10 pieces of their favorite art that's in New York, from museums to street art. We've spoken to Thelma Golden from the Studio Museum, Glenn Ligon, Jerry Saltz. We created this series, which began last July, and that means we have just a couple of weeks left to wrap this whole thing up. There's more than that to come.

For the penultimate 100 Pieces of Art conversation, I've got Eileen Jeng Lynch, now in studios. She's director of curatorial programs at the Bronx Museum of Art. Welcome to the show.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: Thank you, Alison. Pleasure to be here.

Alison Stewart: We asked you to put this list together, 100 Pieces of Art, 10 pieces of art you think are just really important and everybody should know about, it's unscientific. What was on your criteria? What was important to you about what you would include on this list?

Eileen Jeng Lynch: Sure. I was thinking about a number of things, accessibility, different perspectives, engagement, also wanting to give the listener some time to go see the show. Shows that if they're on now, are on through the fall, or the works are permanent or in permanent collections. At first I thought, oh, 10, that wasn't gonna be that many, and then the more I thought about it, it was like, oh, just 10.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, we'd like you to share your favorite piece of art to see in this city for our 100 Pieces of Art series. Let's hear it. Shout out your favorite pieces of art you think that everybody should get a chance to see if they can. Our phone number is 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. You can call in, you can join us on air, or you can text to us at that number, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Your first piece is a piece of subway art at 167th street, the B and D subway stop just up on the Grand Concourse. It's called Beacons by Rico Gesson?

Alison Stewart: Gatson.

Alison Stewart: Rico Gatson. Tell me a little bit more about this piece.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: Sure. I see this piece every day when I head up to the museum, and so the piece, which is an MTA commission, is a celebration of the energy and spirit of these really influential figures within the Bronx community. He's featured portraits of Gil Scott Huron, Tito Puente, Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou. I mean they have these rays that radiate from their heads and it's really just an uplifting, really positive piece when you get off the Subway.

Alison Stewart: New York has some famous, obviously famous museums, but when you think about street art, when you think about the subway as a place to display art, why do you think subway art plays such a natural role in the New York City art system?

Eileen Jeng Lynch: I think it provides a canvas, so to speak, that is accessible. We take the train and we can see it every day. We can see it on the tile. Of course, it makes me think of artists who did graffiti early on in days, in the '70s. Thinking about, I think, that accessibility and providing the opportunity for everyone to see.

Alison Stewart: Okay, next on your list is John Ahern and Rigoberto Torres, Double Dutch. It's another public art piece in the Bronx, Banana Kelly Double Dutch from 1982. This piece plays homage to Bronx's history. It's really important. Could you explain?

Eileen Jeng Lynch: Sure, it sure does. We had an exhibition of theirs, a survey of theirs back in 2022, and so this work is at 912 Kelly Street. At the ethos of their practice is the community, and so really engaging with them from the process, casting them on the sidewalks, outside of their studios. To be able to capture these girls doing Double Dutch is just really amazing. They see these works as belonging to the public.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to David is calling in from Inwood. Hey David, thanks for calling All Of It.

David: Hi, how are you doing?

Alison Stewart: Doing great.

David: Great. I just want to tell you, I'm a crane operator and I had the the luck, I was lucky to assist with setting up an exhibit right now that's happening from last July, and it ends the end of this July at the Oculus next to the World Trade Center. It's like Animal Kingdom and it's about a dozen sculptures of all different kinds of animals in their habitat. Oh my God. It's a must see. You could research it or look it up, this Animal Kingdom exhibit outside of the Oculus. It's in a wide open.

These structures were designed in England, manufactured in China, and then shipped over here for a one year display. They're so realistic-looking, I've got to tell you, I highly recommend it if you're looking for something nice to do.

Alison Stewart: David, thanks for the tip. We really appreciate it. We are talking about 100 Pieces of Art you should see in New York City. You want to shout your favorite piece, you can do it right now. 2124-3396-9221-2433, WNYC. It could be a piece of art you see in the subway or something at a museum. Anything is possible. 212-433-969-2212, WNYC.

My guest along for this ride is Eileen Jeng Lynch. She is director of Curatorial programs at the Bronx Museum. You selected some pieces from the Bronx Museum's collection. Love that. You picked something by Futura 2000 who we've had on the show. Tell us what you've picked.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: Sure. Right now we have his piece Aerosol Aesthetics. He created this piece during his exhibition that we had last year into earlier this year. It's a mural that's almost 18 feet tall that he created specifically for that exhibition, we're thrilled to still have it on view at the museum right now.

Alison Stewart: What do you see as the Bronx Museum's role in curating and preserving graffiti culture?

Eileen Jeng Lynch: I think it's very important to think about that history and our role in doing so. This was Futura's largest scale museum exhibition in his hometown in New York City. To be a able to showcase that, to show that his survey of paintings, of collaborations, of works on paper, photographs of his work, I mean, all come into play. It's really important to be able to preserve and care for that culture.

Alison Stewart: I want to go off on this tangent a little bit because you've got another piece at the Bronx Museum. It's called BronxBot by Stephanie Dinkins, and the piece uses AI. Tell me more about that.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: It does. It's a multi personality AI chatbot. It was created for this exhibition currently on [inaudible 00:08:00] in mid August. Working knowledge, shared imaginings, new features, and it has three heads, this chatbot. One head represents the indigenous peoples. The second head represents the 1940s, '50s era, the Giwab era, and then the third head represents today as is today. Stephanie refers to it as gifting intelligence to AI because she created this chatbot specifically, especially the present day figure with the community. She came to one of our first Fridays, had these cards available for all of us, the community, to contribute our stories, and basically she sees it as gifting intelligence to AI. You talk to it and it talks back, and it's very amazing.

Alison Stewart: I wanted to ask you about that. Let's get back to your list. Number four, you selected something at the Met. Everything #4 by Adrian Piper. This piece is a mirror, and it has something etched on it. What's etched on it?

Eileen Jeng Lynch: Etched on it is everything will be taken away. It's very ominous. I actually stumbled upon it. Came up from the Lorna Simpson show, I came across it and I just stopped. I looked into the mirror. It's part of their exhibition, Afterlives: Contemporary Art in the Byzantine Crypt. It works in their collection, and it's talking about this proclamation, it's talking about this existentialism. You can take that phrase any way that you feel that resonates with you, but it was a really powerful piece to have stumbled on.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Larry. Hi, Larry, thanks for calling All Of It. We're going to pull you down, and we're gonna check on your connection. We'll keep going with your list. We're at number five, Mark Bradford, Jungle Jungle. We're at the right moment now, I should say, We've chosen this piece by Mark Bradford, and this was made during the pandemic, yes?

Eileen Jeng Lynch: It was, yes.

Alison Stewart: Tell us a little bit more about the piece.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: It just stopped me in my tracks when I walked into the gallery and saw this colorful large scale piece by Mark Bradford. He used only materials that were immediately available to him in his studio.

Alison Stewart: Oh, that's interesting.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: During the pandemic.

Alison Stewart: What does it look like?

Eileen Jeng Lynch: It's abstracted. It has torn, very colorful pasted paper. There's string, there's kind of abstracted animal figures in it, in this nature scene. It seemed like, because I saw that first and I said, "Oh, is that Mark Bradford?" Because it's a little new direction than what he was doing. It was saying that this is a new territory for him, and it's almost treating it like a child playing. It's this fantasy jungle that he's created.

Alison Stewart: Oh, that's interesting. That's Jungle Jungle by Mark Bradford. We've got some text coming in. Favorite subway art Reach New York, An Urban Musical Instrument. The motion activated sound instrument on both the platforms of the R Train at 34th Street, created by artist Christopher Janney in 1996. Wave your hands in front of the motion sensors, it's fun.

This one says. Hi, Alison. The Nevelson Chapel, a room inside St. Peter's Lutheran Church. Nevelson fills the Chapel of the Good Shepherd with works on each wall, it's white on white. It's newly restored. It's an amazing respite from New York City. You sit on a small bench engrossed by her work. It's almost completely quiet and you can see New York City outside the few windows. It's just wonderful.

Thank you for that call. We'll try Larry again. Let's see if we got him. Hey, Larry.

Larry: Okay, you got me. Hello?

Alison Stewart: Got you, you're on the air.

Larry: Okay, and it's funny because you just spoke about subway art, and I was calling about a piece of subway art that is on 86th Street on the Q Train. I just got a chance after the Q's been there a long time, but you don't go to that subway station very often. It is a mosaic of a true New Yorker, Lou Reed, and it is amazing. There's two mosaics there. I think there's a also mosaic of the man that made the mosaic of Lou Reed, but it's incredible picture of Lou Reed in his later years. I think he's probably in his 60s in the mosaic that's displayed in the 86th Street Q subway station. It's really beautiful. I recommend anybody that's in that Q sub station to go see it. It's a great thing because they tell you when the next train is coming, so if you go down there and you have like six minutes, you have to find it because it's a long train platform.

Alison Stewart: Get Larry. Thanks a lot. Let's talk to Matthew in Harlem. Hi, Matthew. Thank you for calling All Of It.

Mathew: Hi there. There are two that I couldn't choose between that were just my head at the same time. The first one is the Angel of The Waters, which is the Angel Bethesda Fountain in Central Park by Emma Stebbins. Then the other one that always blows me away is Keith Haring, did a triptych for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Alison Stewart: Oh, good choices. Thank you so much for calling in. Eileen, we're going to go back to your list as people call in. Our number is 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Whitney pieces. You can find two pieces at the Whitney for your next pick. Both are in the permanent collection. One is by Martin Wong, another by Amalia Mesa-Baines. Why did you highlight these two pieces of art?

Eileen Jeng Lynch: I wanted to highlight them because they really stopped me in my track. The Amalia Mesa-Baines opens up the exhibition, basically, Shifting Landscapes. Shifting Landscapes is talking about political, ecological and social issues, and various landscapes. When you come upon Amalia's piece, it is on the floor, there is a large central feminine body, an Aztec Spirit, representing those who have died in childbirth. It's facing a mirror, a hand mirror. It was just very powerful to see that, especially at the level that you would see it. It's thinking about, or I think it's speaking to that Western history, countering that Western history too, the Venus from Western Art History. It really focuses on this feminine archetype, and I was just really struck by it.

Alison Stewart: You have Public Library Art as your number seven. You've highlighted two pieces for us. One in the Brooklyn Heights branch, one in the Hunts Point branch. Tell us briefly about each.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: The one in the Brooklyn Heights branch is by Jean Shin. It's Something Borrowed, Something Blue, created in 2023. It's a permanent artwork. It was commissioned by the library for the 125th anniversary, and it is

Alison Stewart: Cool.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: The branches speak to the branches of the library, but also, of course, the branches of the tree itself. It's thinking about different types of knowledge, it's thinking about ecology. The whole tree is wrapped in denim, and so there's a sustainability aspect to it. Where she asked the people who worked in the library or the community to contribute denim to this piece and it's reused. She does this in her practice, in general. Then when you look up upon it in lettered lights, are different titles of books that have been most widely circulated.

Alison Stewart: That's awesome. I'm going to read out your next three, because we're going to run out of time. We've got Candida Alvarez, Partly Cloudy. We had her on the show. She talked about that. [00:16:55] Saya Woolfalk, Holding Space at the Museum of Arts and Design, and Lorna Simpson for Beryl Wright 2021. We had her on. She explained Beryl Wright.

I want you, in our last, to tell us about Saya Woolfalk, Holding Space at the Museum of Art and Design.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: Sure. It is such an amazing installation. The whole show called Empathic Universe is a survey of 20 plus years of her work. It really transforms you. This piece is an upside down figure in homage to her friend Candida Alvarez. You see the water kind of running through the body, and so it really takes you into this different place, of course, like exploring our human relationship with nature. There are also pillows in the front for everyone to come in and kind of engage and immerse themselves in it.

Alison Stewart: We have got her entire list. It'll be part of our transcripts. You can check it out when we post it later today. My guest from the Bronx Museum has been Eileen Jeng Lynch. Thank you so much for making this list for us and sharing it with us.

Eileen Jeng Lynch: Thank you, Alison, it was so fun.

Alison Stewart: Vic, I'm so glad you could come to the studio. That's All Of It for today. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I will meet you back here tomorrow.