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I AM A RAINBOW TOO

Astoria Blvd (N/W)

I AM A RAINBOW TOO

Jeffrey Gibson
Station hallway with rainbow glass artwork.
"I AM A RAINBOW TOO" (2020) © Jeffrey Gibson, NYCT Astoria Blvd Station. Photo: Etienne Frossard

About the project

"I AM A RAINBOW TOO," the laminated glass artwork by artist Jeffrey Gibson at the Astoria Blvd station, honors and reflects the evolving and diverse population of people from countless backgrounds and cultures that make up the communities in Astoria, Queens and New York City overall. The artwork focuses on the ROYGBIV colors of the light spectrum, which has long been used by many communities to reflect diversity, inclusivity, and hope. Through this artwork, Gibson embraces and celebrates innumerable cultures by inserting a spectrum of skin tones into the already recognizable rainbow color scheme. 

"I AM A RAINBOW TOO" is made up of 102 unique, custom designs made by Gibson and translated into laminated glass by Tom Patti Design. The laminated glass panels are installed throughout the mezzanine and platform levels of the Astoria Blvd station, where they can be seen from both the street and roadways below, and as one enters and moves through the station. Each artwork composition acts as a unique iteration of an expansive version of the rainbow, with elements that abstractly reference the sun, moon, and cosmos.  

About the artist

Jeffrey Gibson is an interdisciplinary artist who merges traditional Indigenous materials and forms with those of Western contemporary art to create a new hybrid visual vocabulary. Gibson’s artworks make reference to various aesthetic and material histories rooted in Indigenous cultures of the Americas, and in modern and contemporary subcultures. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at such institutions as the Whitney Museum, the New Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, among many others. Gibson is a 2019 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship Program, and is currently an artist-in-residence in the Studio Arts Program at Bard College. Gibson is Choctaw-Cherokee and is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.