Calisthenics for Rest (Gold Key Lake, Delaware River)
Beach chairs, gravel, weeds, plywood frame
4’x6’ footprint
On view as part of A Wave Still Here at Cherry Street Pier in Philadelphia
Visual Description:
Colorful nylon woven and aluminum beach chairs in pairs are embedded in beds of rocks set in 4x6’ grey wooden frames. Weeds and flora planted among the pebbles will grow over the duration of the exhibition (a month), living and changing with the company kept in these chairs. People come here largely in pairs and alone, quietly taking care in this space, finding what feels like peace here. Underfoot, an opportunity to step off the concrete and out into the riverbed.
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I spent summers growing up in the Poconos. Shucking corn with my grandma on the front steps. Tangled in the hammock, playing hot wheels on the screened-in porch. Digging giant holes in the shipped-in sand by the lake while the grownups sat beside me in chairs like these.
My dad and uncle spent summers here too doing much of the same stuff. A 40-something year cycle of city kids escaping for 48 hours or so- like so many other lil Ashkenazi NY bbs over the year. Up in the Catskills and beyond while their parents strove to create space for them to scrape their knees on something other than the hot playground blacktop. What a privilege, a gift.
At Cherry Street Pier folks seek space for rest too- coming mostly in twos out to the end to sit and take in the river. Waterways connecting spaces of leisure, giving us an opportunity to cling to whatever semblance of summer we have access to. Somewhere to step off the concrete and into the riverbed- even if it's just for an hour or two.
My sweet parents, sitting.