Brooklyn-based Fabio Gherardi’s flag design (center) “is a small thank you note to everyone for their sacrifice during these trying times. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
The flag by Taber Calderon of Flushing, Queens, (center) needs no explanation: “YO! It says it all … so New York.”
Anne Finklestein’s flag design was inspired by the cover of a book by architect Rem Koolhaas that has an illustration of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in bed together. “I always think of it as the iconic image of New York.” The flag by Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design students Francesca Moy, Johanna Vargas, Armando Cedillo Rodriguez, Sam Chaudhri, Olivia Baltimore, and Tenzin Sangmo features the word “Love” with a peace symbol made from intersecting hands with different skin colors. “Our flag represents humanity’s capacity for kindness and we hope that it provides a bridge to communication amongst groups that are typically at odds with each other.”
Through August 16, 193 artist-designed flags are flying at the Rink at Rockefeller Center as part of the Rockefeller Center Flag Project, a public art installation celebrating love, unity, and diversity in these challenging times. The flags on display were chosen from more than 1,000 entries.
A design by a team of five Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design students—Francesca Moy, Johanna Vargas, Armando Cedillo Rodriguez, Sam Chaudhri, Olivia Baltimore, and Tenzin Sangmo—was selected, as well as three individual designs by Communication Design Pathways faculty members Anne Finkelstein, Taber Calerdone, and Fabio Gherardi. Name artists and designers, including Jeff Koons, Marina Abramović, and Christian Siriano, also contributed flags.