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The emerging artist's exhibition "of [a] tomorrow: lighter than air, stronger than whiskey, cheaper than dust" is on view at the Queens Museum
On an early afternoon in late August, getting to the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadow Park was a challenge. The U.S. Open had just kicked off, bringing waves of traffic and visitors to the area; cars pulling into the park's Meridian from Grand Central Parkway were backed up.
The Queens Museum, located steps from the National Tennis Center, was closed for the day and in the early stages of installation for artist Charisse Pearlina Weston's solo show, "of [a] tomorrow: lighter than air, stronger than whiskey, cheaper than dust."
When Weston was approached about mounting an exhibition at the museum in the spring, she found herself drawn to the history of the park, which is littered with architectural ephemera from the 1964 World's Fair. "All of my work is tied in by my interest in thinking about ideas of Black intimacy and interiors and architecture," she says.
The Unisphere is visible from the museum, as is the steel-and-concrete fair pavilion designed by Philip Johnson. The fair was orchestrated by urban planner Robert Moses, whose influence on the city is particularly visible in the museum's central exhibit, The Panorama of the City of New York. Moses' design choices have had lasting...