Paul Gill63rd Street playground west of West End AveHeart Three · Location 254 · Drawn March 2003Hover over or select the image to reveal a hidden view.PhotographsDownload photograph 1Download photograph 2Download photograph 3Download photograph 4Download photograph 5Download photograph 6Download photograph 7Download photograph 8Download photograph 9Download photograph 10Download photograph 11Download photograph 12Video podcast0:00In the West End Towers Park, west of West End Avenue, between 63rd and 64th Street, is a lot of landscaping.0:08The landscaping has made dramatic successes in the last three years.0:12When we originally passed through the space drawing, we found a series of large boulders in a sea of mud.0:19As of spring 2006, the boulder is now in a well-manicured garden with lots of people walking their dogs.0:27To find the exact boulder that we drew on, enter the park from 63rd Street.0:32You'll pass a boulder on your left, take a left onto a dirt path.0:36Following the path, you'll see a bench on your left, a boulder on your right inside of the garden,0:42and the next boulder on your right is where we made the drawing.0:46It's accompanied on either side by a healthy, plush, young birch tree0:51and an abundant rose bush with lots of red flowers.0:55This is Paul Gill. He was drawn in March of 2003. His drawing is counting five people.1:05Back in 1989, I started drawing on the ground with tape. The use of a silhouette outline was1:13originally designed to conjure up images of police outlines. All the ground murals that1:19we created to make that connection were always done in a purposely abundant fashion that1:25mimicked the magnitude of the scene depicted or was outlandish.1:29For example, crashing Noah's Ark and drawing every animal A to Z life size.1:35When figures and narratives were depicted on a vertical plane, the message was always1:40clear that the representations of the objects and people were shadows of their living actions1:46in the real world. Vertical has its associations. Horizontal has its1:53associations. I spent a decade playing with and redefining those definitions in1:59my own work. But alas, here I am left to struggle with the same old questions2:05again. The drawing of Paul Gill was done with every attempt made to make the2:11outline as vibrant and animated as possible. It was an interesting assignment to navigate this2:17rock and capitalize on its shape. Now that I think about it, no one we have spoken with has joked or2:25mentioned the obvious connection between our outlines and those of the police. That is good.2:32It means we are doing our job well. Several years before he became a firefighter,2:41down the street in Astoria, Queens, when a woman started screaming in a burning building.2:46Smoke poured from the window as the woman clutched a baby and cried for help.2:49With no firefighter in sight and everyone else standing around, Mr. Gill climbed the fire escape,2:56took the baby in his arms, and led the woman to safety. He was a carpenter at the time,3:01but the incident firmed his desire to join the fire department, which he did in 19...← Location 253Heart Three · Location 254Location 255 →
