Queens is the Future

Queens is the Future is a mural created in 2007 by married artists Eve Biddle and Joshua Frankel. It is located on a handball court in the schoolyard of I.S. 145, a public middle school in Jackson Heights, Queens. The mural originally depicted a subway car blasting off of its tracks as though powered by rocket fuel, with the words “Queens is the Future” painted in the upper left corner. It quickly became an iconic image of the borough, inspiring the Municipal Art Society to name their walking tour of neighborhood after the work, as well as appearing in Sports Illustrated,[1] Time Out New York,[2][3] and a short documentary about the rise of Bronx and Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.[4][5]

The original version of Biddle and Frankel's Queens Is The Future

In January of 2015, without consulting the original artists, Sony Pictures altered the mural, inserting Spider-Man into the image, to promote the release of the film The Amazing Spider-Man 2.[3]

Inspiration

Biddle and Frankel were inspired to create the mural while living in Long Island City, Queens and traveling to Jackson Heights regularly to have lunch with Frankel’s mother, a public school teacher there. The elevated 7 train, a subway line, which runs across Roosevelt Avenue and is a distinctive architectural feature of Jackson Heights, was one of the inspirations for the image. Having both grown up in New York City in the 1980s, the artists were influenced by graffiti and other public art they saw as children and young adults including Keith Haring’s iconic Crack is Wack mural, which was also painted on a handball wall.

The phrase “Queens Is The Future” points to Queens’ status as the United States of America's most diverse populous county.[6] Like Queens, America itself is becoming more international, more urban, and less white.[7]

Queens is the Future details

Style

Queens is the Future incorporates graffiti and comic book graphic style with a minimalist color scheme. The banner reading “Queens is the Future” mimics a style of typography found in early 20th century cruise ship and transportation advertising, which utilized the American Modernist “poster portrait” style typified by artists like Charles DeMuth. The low-angle view of the train also evokes a perspective often found in these ads.

Desecration and restoration

In January of 2015, without consulting the original artists, Sony Pictures altered the mural, inserting Spider-Man into the image, to promote the release of the film The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

In the altered mural, Spider-Man lifts the subway car off the tracks “rescuing” children who’ve been inserted into the train’s windows, a contrast to the original message of the work. The alterations also included the addition of geographically inaccurate images of the Empire State building, and the Statue of Liberty, neither of which are in Queens or visible from Jackson Heights. The mural was selected by Sony because the character is from Forest Hills, Queens. NYC Service, a city agency, introduced Sony to I.S. 145. The alterations were executed by artist Ibrahim Wann. Actor Andrew Garfield and other cast members appeared at an unveiling of the altered mural at the school, which was attended by students and other neighborhood residents.

Biddle and Frankel understood the students' excitement around this event, but Frankel expressed his disappointment in the mural’s repurposing: “They took a work of public art in the community and turned it into an advertisement for the film, and called it community service.”[3]

In 2020, Biddle and Frankel are seeking to restore the Queens is the Future mural to its original form, and paint similar murals across the borough.

Legacy

The original mural inspired the Municipal Art Society to name their walking tour “Queens is the Future.” A photograph of the mural appears prominently in a 2015 print edition issue of Time Out New York celebrating Queens as “New York’s hottest borough.”[8][3] The work also appears in Seth Fein’s 2017 experimental documentary film Between Neighborhoods.[9][10] It is featured in a 2019 mini-documentary about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents Queens and the Bronx, entitled “Before Alexandria Was Known As AOC, There Was A Movement That Recruited Her To Run.”[11] New York State Senator Jessica Ramos, who represents Jackson Heights, featured a photograph of herself standing in front of the mural prominently on her website.[12]

References
  1. "A Whole New Ballgame". Sports Illustrated.
  2. "In this week's issue of Time Out New York, we bow down to Queens". Time Out New York.
  3. McGrath, Ben. "Writing on the Wall". The New Yorker.
  4. "Before Alexandria Was Known As AOC, There Was A Movement That Recruited Her To Run".
  5. Cochrane, Emily. "Justice Democrats Helped Make Ocasio-Cortez. They're Already Eyeing Their Next Targets". The New York Times.
  6. Algar, Selim (2019-07-04). "Queens is crowned nation's most diverse large county". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  7. "America Is Less White, Getting Older, and More Urban: Census". Bloomberg.com. 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  8. "In this week's issue of Time Out New York, we bow down to Queens". Time Out New York. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  9. "BETWEEN NEIGHBORHOODS by Seth Fein - Documentary Film @ Queens World Film Festival". www.queensworldfilmfestival.com. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  10. ""Between Neighborhoods", p. 4". www.ejumpcut.org. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  11. Sarlin, Benjy. "In new video, Ocasio-Cortez joins progressive effort to oust more incumbent Democrats". NBC News.
  12. "Vision". Jessica Ramos for State Senate.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.