SculptureCenter, Queens, NY
Installation view, In Practice: Covey Gong, SculptureCenter, New York, 2024. Commissioned by SculptureCenter, New York. Photo: Charles Benton.
TRD-RF-052401, 2024
Linen, cotton, stainless steel, brass, bronze, copper, tin, charcoal powder
25.5 x 92 x 10 in (64.8 x 233.7 x 25.4 cm)
TRD-CLD-052402, 2024
Brass, copper, bronze, tin, acrylic, steel, aluminum
94 x 102 x 8 in (238.8 x 259.1 x 20.3 cm)
TRD-FN-052403, 2024
Brass, bronze, copper, tin, linen, cotton, monitors, cables, footage: 1. Making of Turandot de Ópera de Tenerife 2. Puccini - Turandot at the Forbidden City of Beijing - The Making of Turandot 3. Behind the scenes of Turandot - Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires 4. Royal Opera House Automated Rigging 5. 2021-22/HGO (Houston Grand Opera) Turandot - Behind the Scenes 6. A look at the stage and set of the Royal Operas Turandot 7. An Introduction to the Royal Operas Turandot 8. Making the dragon for Turandot on Sydney Harbour
73 x 72 x 9 in (185.4 x 182.9 x 22.9 cm)
Covey Gong’s work is attuned to “fluctuating relationships between material goods, passing from novelty to familiarity,” in the artist’s words. His recent sculpture has intricately taken stock of such transformations of the everyday via abstract metal armatures, disused fabrics, and extra lengths of thread. Building on an artistic interest in the life cycles of objects, Gong’s work at SculptureCenter expands to a broader perspective on global cultural artifacts and the transpositions of difference achieved through scenography, architecture, decoration, and the costumed body. His new sculptures take as their subject the 1924-26 Giacomo Puccini opera Turandot and the worldwide manifestations of its ornamented, imaginary imperial China over the last century.
Research image: Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, 1991-92. Photo: Hans Fahrmeyer. Copyright Metropolitan Opera Archives.
Sponsors:
In Practice is made possible by the Elaine Graham Weitzen Commissioning Fund for Emerging Artists, which supports the production of new work by artists selected from SculptureCenter's annual open call. This landmark endowment established in 2024 reflects Elaine Graham Weitzen’s (1920-2017) lifelong commitment to emerging artists and her exuberant support of new ideas in art. Weitzen served as a devoted Trustee of SculptureCenter from 1987 to 2017.
Major support for the In Practice program is provided by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. In Practice is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.