Park McArthur
b. 1984, Raleigh, NC; lives and works in New Jersey
Polyurethane Foam, 2024
Polyurethane foam bun
Courtesy of the artist
The material of lived experience. Polyurethane Foam is exactly what its title states—a block of foam—yet it engages with something much more. The dense foam is used in a variety of objects to absorb sound and pressure, including the wheelchair Park McArthur uses every day. Over time, the foam changes, peeling and deteriorating from the constant push-and-pull between material and body: the foam molds to a body but is also molded by the body. It holds the stories, exchanges, and material traces of its user. The monolithic form of Polyurethane Foam has enough material for dozens of wheelchairs, representing the possibility of collective community and gathering despite social structures that often separate and isolate individuals with disabilities. Displacing the foam from its original context and making it an art object, the sculpture materializes tensions between access, dependency, and care.
Gentle touching of the sculpture is encouraged.
Artist Description
This sculpture by Park McArthur is an impressively large block of the manufactured material Polyurethane Foam colored in aquamarine, the color of water at noonday; on one side the block is mostly brown and worn, demonstrating a long history of use at plants or on trucks. The debris could just as easily be the sand on the beach of that aqua blue water. Foam is not unlike The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, where the cube represents sensuous Comfort rising from industry; its inviting color suggests that manufacturing can be beautiful whether it be for padding a wheelchair or providing insulation. Maybe we, the object of this manufacturing, can also be so adorned. The shape is solid, imperious, immovable and yet its contents are unmistakably fragile: it could blow away. McArthur places this importance in objects with points equally playful and serious.
-- Description by Jerron Herman
Basic Description
A large block of light, turquoise-colored foam. The block is in the shape of a large rectangle, with the long sides of the rectangle positioned vertically. The foam has some slight discoloration to it, mainly some occasional yellow streaks.