Coraggio News
September 9, 2014 Coraggio in Harlem
About 5 blocks from where Coraggio attended Music and Art High School in the late 1970s is the La Maison d’Art Gallery at 259 W 132nd Street. Through his exhibiting at a pop-up gallery, Coraggio’s work was acquired by La Maison; that led to commissions, a solo show there last fall, and a labor of love: spending much of 2013 turning the gallery’s backyard into a beautiful showplace sculpture garden.
The official inauguration of the garden was held at La Maison in November of 2013, but we have just now discovered an album of photos of the inaugural gala that La Maison had posted on Facebook shortly after the event! There are many good photos of Coraggio's pieces—not only of the 22 sculptures and furniture pieces that permanently decorate the garden but also many of the Coraggio works on display inside the gallery (including sculptures, paintings and a complete set of woodcut prints). Among the photo album's highlights are images of the huge and wild Coraggio wall mosaic that took him 8 months to complete, now adorning one of the garden walls. You can also see two Coraggio furniture pieces visible from the street out in front of the brownstone gallery—do sit in them if you stop by!
Reflecting with some surprise on the relationship he now enjoys with the gallery and that area of New York City, Coraggio commented, “When I was going to high school in Harlem, I never thought I would have anything ever to do with the [then] shell-shocked neighborhood, let alone have any chance to show art there.”
The garden is open to the public daily from 1:00–6:00 pm.
About 5 blocks from where Coraggio attended Music and Art High School in the late 1970s is the La Maison d’Art Gallery at 259 W 132nd Street. Through his exhibiting at a pop-up gallery, Coraggio’s work was acquired by La Maison; that led to commissions, a solo show there last fall, and a labor of love: spending much of 2013 turning the gallery’s backyard into a beautiful showplace sculpture garden.
The official inauguration of the garden was held at La Maison in November of 2013, but we have just now discovered an album of photos of the inaugural gala that La Maison had posted on Facebook shortly after the event! There are many good photos of Coraggio's pieces—not only of the 22 sculptures and furniture pieces that permanently decorate the garden but also many of the Coraggio works on display inside the gallery (including sculptures, paintings and a complete set of woodcut prints). Among the photo album's highlights are images of the huge and wild Coraggio wall mosaic that took him 8 months to complete, now adorning one of the garden walls. You can also see two Coraggio furniture pieces visible from the street out in front of the brownstone gallery—do sit in them if you stop by!
Reflecting with some surprise on the relationship he now enjoys with the gallery and that area of New York City, Coraggio commented, “When I was going to high school in Harlem, I never thought I would have anything ever to do with the [then] shell-shocked neighborhood, let alone have any chance to show art there.”
The garden is open to the public daily from 1:00–6:00 pm.