Renowned artist opens new art center in LIC

Artist David Datuna will open his new art space at a former taxi garage in Long Island City. Photos courtesy of David Datuna.

By Victoria Merlino

Acclaimed artist David Datuna is poised to open a new art space in Long Island City, presenting unique opportunities and community-based programming inside what was once a taxi garage.

The venue will become one of the largest privately-owned art centers in the neighborhood.

“In our current social and political landscape, the aim is to showcase the common denominator, our shared humanity, through art,” the venue’s press team wrote in a statement announcing the opening. The space will be home to many of Datuna’s conceptual art pieces.

Datuna’s work has been featured in the Smithsonian, Lincoln Center and multiple spaces in New York, including Washington Square Park.

His pieces reflect the intersection of art and social consciousness. The work that will be on display at the space includes a piece from his “Portrait of America” series, the first large-scale art piece to utilize wearable technology.

Datuna has recently grappled with President Donald Trump in his work, inserting one installation in front of Trump Tower in New York during the 2016 presidential election. Another piece in 2017 expressed frustration at Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, placing 10-foot ice-sculpted letters that spelled out Trump’s name in Union Square, with the sculpture melting within minutes.

The grand opening of the art space is set to begin on June 20 at 6 p.m., at 43-05 Vernon Blvd.