The Cavalry
2018, Cast aluminum, dimensions variable
In The Cavalry, painted carousel horses emerge from the ground at odd angles, as if rising from the past. An homage to Starlight Park’s history as a fairground, the playful form of the horses evokes an idyllic past and points to a hopeful future for the park and its surrounding community.
At the same time, the form of the horses, frozen in time and space, offers a more somber message, as well – a visual reference to an event in World War II that put life and death into stark relief, mirroring the war’s impact on the park itself, when it was converted from amusement park to munitions factory. In a passage from Curzio Malaparte’s fictionalized memoir, Kaputt, he recounts a moment in which a stable of horses, fleeing from a fire in the woods of Russia, plunge into a nearby lake to escape the flames. The impact of so many startled bodies causes the lake to flash-freeze in an instant, trapping the horses in motion, locked in their final actions.
Installed in Starlight Park, Bronx, NY with the support of NYC Parks and the Bronx River Arts Center.