It looks like Queens has a new mascot.
Bumperman has put on the brakes near the David Dinkins Circle in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, where it’ll be on display through October 2025, thanks to a grant from the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park and NYC Parks Department’s Art in the Parks program.
Local artist Annalisa Iadicicco created the seven-foot-high superhero from used bumpers, grills, floor mats, and other scrap auto parts she collected from Willets Point and Long Island City repair shops over several months. Then she designed the site-specific installation by drawing on the history and future plans for Willets Point, which lies in the shadows of Citi Field.
By the end of World War II, it was known as the “Iron Triangle” and it teemed with junkyards and scrapyards. Despite constant threats of eminent domain takeover, businesses thrived amid the unpaved streets and nonexistent infrastructure, forging a unique identity in one of New York City’s harshest working environments.
Times have changed, however, and modern day Willets Point is the center of transformation (and controversy) with plans for a soccer stadium and tentative plans for a casino, hotel, park, shoppping, and housing.
Regardless of what happens, Bumperman ensures that the memory of the people who built the hard-scrabble spot—and the labor that shaped it—will not be forgotten.
“This sculpture is about acknowledging the past while embracing the future,” stated Iadicicco. “It’s a bridge between what was and what is to come.”
Born in Italy, Iadicicco moved to New York in 1997 to pursue a creative career and study photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After working in movie and television production, she returned to creating art from found objects and materials. In 2016, she launched The Blue Bus Project, a nonprofit that operates out of an old school bus she refurbished into a traveling arts workshop. She also created and installed a small house from used bottles donated by community members and laundromats that’s currently on display (and open to the public) next to Culture Lab LIC.
Editor’s note: Click HERE to watch the making and transportation of Bumperman.
Images: Annalisa Iadicicco