Hillwood Art Museum on the C.W. Post Campus Presents

 Paul Villinski: Air Chair Unique Exhibit on display from May 31 – July 3, 2007

Brookville, NY – In what can be described as an intriguing interpretation of mechanical motion, New York City-based sculptor Paul Villinski’s Air Chair will be on display from May 31 through July 3, 2007 at Hillwood Art Museum on the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. The exhibition is comprised of a single sculpture with allusions to two seemingly disparate ideas: paralysis and flight. 

Air Chair, a construction of a discarded wheelchair and a detailed flying machine with working parts, floats above the Museum floor causing the viewer to wonder, “Does this thing really fly?”  Villinski writes that the inspiration for Air Chair was a result of his running route in Long Island City that takes him past two VA Hospitals located on Roosevelt Island, which are home to many disabled, wheelchair-bound men who often pass the time at the riverside.  Mr. Villinski talks about the origins of the project: “The irony of running for pleasure past dozens of men no longer able to walk is never lost on me. Seeing these men year after year started me thinking about wheelchairs, and I began to ponder what I would want, were I confined to a chair by disability or old age. I knew at once it would need to be capable of getting airborne. If I were to lose use of my legs, I would want to trade them for wings.”

This dramatic installation is reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine drawings and calls to mind the profound release of silent flight.  Air Chair is Mr. Villinski’s gift to the Veterans at Roosevelt Island, and to all of us who believe that life’s challenges can be met with hope, imagination, determination and grace.

Hillwood Art Museum presents a year-round schedule of temporary and permanent exhibitions that cover topics from antiquity to the cutting edge of contemporary art from a scholarly perspective. The 4,500 square foot Museum boasts a beautiful curved gallery which Phyllis Braff of The New York Times has called “one of the Island’s most dramatic showcases for art.” Hillwood Art Museum’s impressive and eclectic Permanent Collection consists of objects dating from the earliest of man’s creative endeavors to contemporary art. The Museum, an established leader in visual arts programming on Long Island, conducts an active and well-attended Education Program that includes Family Day activities, an Evening Lecture and Performance Series, and extensive hands-on educational programs for local schools.  Projects recognized by the New York Council for the Humanities and the New York State Council on the Arts confirm Hillwood Art Museum’s emphasis on education.

Admission to Hillwood Art Museum is free and open to the public. Museum hours are Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Hillwood Art Museum is located on the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, 720 Northern Boulevard (Route 25A), Brookville. The Museum has ample free parking and is handicap accessible. For more information, call (516) 299-4073 or visit www.liu.edu/museum.

Posted: June 19, 2007