The images depicted on the _______ chair and the accompanying silk screens displayed here, are an extension of Riccardo Vecchio’s broader public arts project, 31 Degrees. 31 Degrees gives visibility to environmental injustice by bringing attention to disparities in tree coverage, with drawings that will be translated into murals to bring some arboreal beauty to areas where walls are more prevalent than trees. 31 Degrees sets out to work with City agencies, organizations and communities to facilitate the planting of trees in neighborhoods that need them most.
The project’s title takes its name from a recent collaborative study, part of a larger heat-mapping initiative in cities across North America, which heat-mapped parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx, helping identify areas of environmental concern. 31 Degrees references one particular day in July when the temperature difference varied by that amount from one upper middle-class area in Manhattan, to one of the city’s poorest communities of color in the Bronx. The study found that due to low levels of tree coverage and green space, poorer neighborhoods, predominantly communities of color, are disproportionately negatively impacted by heat. Not only is heat distributed unequally in NYC, creating what is known as urban heat islands, but its distribution follows other patterns of inequality such as race and income inequality.
For 31 Degrees, Vecchio took inspiration from old masters such as Albrecht Dürer (1471- 1528), and Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538), two artists considered the first landscape artists in the western canon who were painting trees and landscapes without religious or other contexts, appreciating nature for its own sake. With this background, Vecchio has created drawings of trees originally native to New York, such as pines, fir and spruce, indigenous trees becoming less widespread with the onset of climate change.
Vecchio juxtaposes the angular symmetry of the Sapience Chair with some of the original pen and ink drawings created for 31 Degrees. The newly imagined compositions attempt to mirror the impact of the site-specific murals created for 31 Degrees. These images are silk screened onto wood panels and then adhered to the chair using sustainable materials.
