Artist Charles Long comments, “My re-occurring interest in the uncanny over many years is in full effect here in the Pet Sounds project where something as familiar and literally grounding as a handrail morphs into an unnamable blob that has a very physical presence with some power to dialog with the viewer’s own somatic sense. As one pets the blobs, a wide range of sounds are triggered and are coming from within the bodies of the forms. The sounds and the sculptural forms connect to the physicality of the viewer and by extension to those of others that are touching the work. I wanted the work to be as visually affecting to park visitors as it is a physical and aural experience for them. I can’t wait to see people sitting on a park bench next to one of these bright orange blobs. Generally, when I look at people looking at my sculptures I just see more sculpture. With Madison Square Park’s almost maze-like repeating patterns of arching pathways, and the way people and their pets are leisurely enjoying these splendid green spaces, I hope I might be an interloper into the park visitors’ unconscious, into what Freud has called the ‘free floating attention.’ I like the idea of Pet Sounds becoming a part of the collective memory, and even dreams, of the unique experiences of New York City.”

President of the Madison Square Park Conservancy, Debbie Landau states, “It is a pleasure to present a work that gives visitors the opportunity to interact with sculpture in a uniquely hands-on way and from so many different points of engagement. The visual arts and music have an incredible ability to permeate the public psyche and it is our hope that Pet Sounds will give visitors an experience that will stay with them for a long time to come.”

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