Crowd Sourcing for the Mystery Image
When I was walking through the East Village down and down First Ave. I originally took one picture and kept walking. After a few steps taken away from the artwork my instincts had me turn around, slightly embarrassed, and take a few more pictures. If it weren’t for these second round of pictures I wouldn’t be questioning the artwork as much as I currently am. Looking at the lamppost from another direction revealed more about the artist’s intent for creating the piece. Amongst the few phrases that were placed on the lamppost, “Florence Otway” stood out the most.
After asking multiple people what “Florence Otway” is, and not getting any answer I turned to the internet. My post on quora.com was not getting much of a pull from the website audience, so I turned to Twitter. Before tweeting and asking about Florence Otway, I search for it in hopes of finding someone else who is speaking of the same topic. To my surprise, within the first few tweets I realize that this Florence is a woman, not a city, and happened to be an influential shoe designer of the 20th century. The words ‘THEATRE 80” above her name on the lamppost makes sense now because she was the co-founder of the theatre along with her husband. Scrolling through the feed, people were remembering her for pioneering women in the fashion industry.
Google led me to find that she designed for Calvin Klein and made waterproof boots for Golo. Such successes seem to be of little importance for the artist of the mosaic. Excluding shoes and brands from the piece, the large “THEATRE 80” is the most prominent aspect. Perhaps for the artist this off Broadway theatre in the Village was more important that creating shoes for big name brands.
Reading more about Otway in articles for both fashion and the Village, I soon realize that she passed away this past June. It makes me wonder if the lamppost was made recently to commemorate her pioneering and passing. Now knowing this piece of information it creates more questions regarding the art. Who is the face supposed to resemble? My next question was, “Why does it say “GANGSTER” on the left side of the post?” But then when looking on the same side, towards the very bottom of the post the name “Henry Hill” is placed. By searching his name I find multiple articles about this “gangster” who grew up in Brooklyn and became part of the Mafia. Putting pieces together makes the piece even more complicated. Now I ask, “Why did the artist juxtapose a shoe designer with a criminal?”
