Name: Enrique Figueredo
Title of project and short description:
If I Could Build Anything I Wanted III
2017
Hand-carved plywood, wood, concrete, and oil paint
8’ x 4’ x 4’
If I Could Build Anything I Wanted III is a temple in disguise. Resembling a NYC construction facade, this unassuming green monolith-like structure houses a giant relief of human existence: past, present, and future. Inspired by pre-Columbian glyphs, the rectangular structure attempts to connect us to the cosmos and travel through time. It is a wish to see something other than commercial development through the diamond-cut windows we pass and ignore daily. If discovered, the mysterious and hidden carvings within invite the passerby to stop and look through windows in each of the four panels.
Reference If I Could Build Anything I Wanted I & II: http://enriquefigueredo.com/projects.html
How have you chosen to interpret the theme “SENSE?”
I find it difficult to interpret what I see between the jackhammer and my phone. I am desensitized because time in NYC is elusive and I respond “oh well” to everything. Maybe I’m not alone in that feeling. I like the idea of hunting for peoples’ senses using art as bait. By placing an odd visual trap in the street that blends with and enriches the visual environment, audiences may pause the hustle, offsetting the city’s constant development with sites of collective imagination.
If I Could Build Anything I Wanted III
2017
Hand-carved plywood, wood, concrete, and oil paint
8’ x 4’ x 4’
Why do you believe 14th Street is a compelling site for creative response?
I’ve always found 14th street to have everything that makes up a city on one street. I guess you can say that about any street in NYC, but 14th street is king. There is an industrial electricity plant on the east river side, followed by affordable housing, followed by clinics, restaurants, and big commerce. Passing Union Square, a busy subway hub and “bohemian” hangout, 6th Avenue approaches, reminding me of the grit of old New York only to arrive at the high-end Meatpacking District and the High Line. The widest street in Manhattan cuts through the entire spectrum from blue collar to blue chip. All of that, coupled with a large volume of tourists, brings you one of the most diverse streets on the planet.
What reactions are you hoping to draw from the public?
I will be happy if the passerby stops and recognizes that my work is for them. I hope that they take a minute disconnected from the City and think about something they haven’t thought of in a while. Maybe it reminds them of a place they’ve been or maybe it starts a conversation between families. Perhaps they will recognize the iconography from old history books and find a link between the carvings to their own lineage. Together we contemplate the future.
