A new 35-foot-tall outdoor art installation will be on display in September at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
“Seated Little Cloud” will premiere on Sept. 5 and will be on display through the end of the Month in Navy Yard’s Crescent Park, located near the intersection of Broad Street and League Island Boulevard.
The exhibition was created by world-renowned Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artists Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval, known as FriendsWithYou. The project is the seventh curated by Group X and the Navy Yard and is managed by public-private economic development corporation PIDC. It is will be open to the public every day from sunup to sundown.
“We created Seated Little Cloud as a beacon of harmony, using our iconic Little Cloud in a meditative pose, to increase the love vibration to the city of Philadelphia and beyond,” said Borkson and Sandoval in a statement. “We hope the meditative nature is contagious and brings serenity to all. Through our work we strive to connect to ourselves and each other, spreading friendship, building community, and deepening our relationship with the natural world.”
Towering at 35 feet high, the exhibition stretches 26 feet wide and 21 feet deep. It is the first Philadelphia contribution from the popular artistic duo. It takes shape as a large inflatable sculpture with happy clouds in the middle of Crescent Park, a 2.5-acre park located just beyond the Navy Yard’s front gates.
FriendsWithYou has worked collectively since 2002 to create modern modes of spirituality with the mission of having a positive impact on the world. Their artwork is described as experiences, immersive installations, sculptures, paintings, animation and live performances. They have exhibited artwork in museums and public venues worldwide including New York, Bangkok, Japan and Toronto.
In 2022, the City of Miami Beach commissioned “Starchild”, a 50-foot-tall, monumental steel sculpture, which was acquired by the city as a permanent artwork. FriendsWithYou released their Rizzoli published monograph We Are FriendsWithYou in May 2014, and they created the hit animation series “True and the Rainbow Kingdom” on Netflix.
“We’ve wanted to work with FriendsWithYou ever since we started collaborating with PIDC and the Navy Yard in 2018,” said a representative from Group X, which remains anonymous. “Sam’s and Arturo’s work has always been very upbeat and accessible, and our goal is to create an avenue for everyone to experience art. It has been an honor and a privilege to work alongside the Navy Yard for seven years and utilize it as a canvas for our mission.”
Group X has curated one exhibition every year at the Navy Yard since 2018. Last year, Group X partnered with Matty Geez for “Greetings from The Mirage,” a domed installation featuring vibrant, larger-than-life cacti at the Navy Yard.
“We’re excited to once again partner with Group X to showcase FriendsWithYou’s innovative art installation, accessible to all Navy Yard-based employees as well as visitors,” said Kate McNamara, PIDC’s executive vice president at the Navy Yard. “Over the past 24 years, PIDC has transformed the Navy Yard into a thriving business campus with recreational amenities for all Philadelphians, and this exhibit embodies our efforts to create a vibrant, welcoming community. Events like this highlight the spirit of the Navy Yard, as we prepare to welcome residents to the campus next year for the first time since the naval base closed nearly three decades ago.”
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