Hempstead

Ron Baron

Lost and Found: An Excavation Project, 2005

Cast bronze sculpture and seating in plaza

From afar the tower of luggage is puzzling; draw closer and you see that the luggage is cast in bronze and colored in a natural patina. The multi-faceted installation includes special cast bronze seating and memorabilia that speaks to the community's heritage and memories. Among the Long Island-related items are an edition of Newsday featuring the Islanders winning the Stanley Cup, an NBA basketball (Julius Erving was from nearby Roosevelt), a Jets football reflecting the team practices at Hofstra University, and yearbooks from Hempstead High School highlighting community events, such as Martin Luther King's address to students of the high school in 1968. Ron Baron refers to himself as a "cultural archaeologist;" and he culls everyday objects from streets and sidewalks, thrift shops, and garage sales. He then forms his monuments, "geological" constructs of his finds, which transform the objects into something completely new.

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