“Pippins: Dilemma of Colors” On View Throughout Hudson Yards
In Partnership with Project Healthy Minds | Open to the Public July 2022
About the Exhibition
“‘The Pippins: Dilemma of Colors” is a public art exhibit featuring a collection of approximately 57 Pippins drawings in colored pencil alongside 21 corresponding poems, some of which have been recited by famous performers, by the late Charles Norton, each featuring a satirical character known as a Pippin.
The artist, Charles Winthrop Norton (1994 - 2019), was an avid traveler. Having grown up in Bali, Singapore and France, Norton was heavily influenced by his surroundings and formed unique perspectives from an early age. Charles studied art and architecture all over the world prior to residing in Brooklyn in 2018 to be closer to his loved ones.
Charles battled with severe depression leading to his death in July 2019 at 24 years old. Despite his young age, Charles left us with a prolific body of work including drawings, illustrations, sketches, poetry, paintings with a strong love for vibrant and unusual color combinations and two children’s books. Charles also developed a close multi-medium collaboration with his mother, sculpture Brigitte Norton, covering her sculptures in thousands of painted dots. The work that Charles left behind reflects his charismatic personality, his empathy for humanity and his wonderful, everlasting, sense of humor.
Self-Portrait, Charles W. Norton. Crayon on paper.
“The Pippins: Dilemma of Colors” plays on the duality of life - putting on a happy face to the world whilst feeling differently on the inside. These works are both colorful and wonderfully humoristic, but also offer a glimpse into a darker trauma and a more complex societal narrative. Through his collection of Pippins, the artist seeks to provide a glimpse into his struggle with the past and the delicate balancing act of managing these intertwined forces.
“‘The Pippins: Dilemma of Colors” first debuted at the High Line Nine in November 2021, a collection of nine galleries in Chelsea district of New York City, developed by the Related Companies. Read all about the exhibition’s debut on WWD.
Tony
Tony believed there should be peace on earth,
Tony walked barefoot on pissed dirt.
He flirted as he ground his turf.
Dog days pissing on planet earth.
How peaceful must one not be to not see how
Blissful just one wistful thought can be.
No one cared nor dared deliver the news.
World peace is already here.
We place a helmet to not misuse
A Pippin a little way a way sometimes out there
Mr. Fair
Read by Whoopi Goldberg 🎧
You would not dare stare or glare
into the eyes of Mr Fair.
This story is not of that.
Instead, of a Pippin with a confetti hand and hat.
The bloke is a tarantulas twat,
Soaked in a brume of brat….
Needless to say, Pippin needed cheering,
Fearing for which what was endearing.
Popped in was a popping out,
Forever sealing doubt..
That a pout is not what it is all about.
Instead, in the head of our douche come settle
the praise of new ways
A popping of the top hat
and thumbs up to peps our days.
Circus Pippin
Perfumed by fashion,
poetic phonetics.
Born in the circus our Pippin has been much.
Such a time when her life intertwined with
walking the line. High, nine meters in the air…
She used balls in her hair to balance a stare
that looked far over there…
The other side,
Cornered sides,
Square complied.
The third angle pointed her way,
a three dimensional display.
Two lines parallel in the distance,
readapted for a future instance.
Persuaded that the ABC be a triangle, square and circle our Pippin translates her story through her garments.
Mr. Ferker
Read by Robert Redford 🎧
Mr. Ferker is a worker.
One of a different kind.
Just recently he was reassigned to find North.
Helped by his wind-ful hat and pointing chair,
Elfed nose battling the blows of wind like the
clothes he wears,
he set on his journey to the so called “up there”.
A portrait of the great explorer was captured before he departed, forever his courage will touch our hearts.
The Graduate
Graved Childhood.
To an old odd friend made in school.
Oh, how we were cool.
Too cool for school they’ve always said,Nonchalantly letting it get to your head.
The time to graduate gravitates gradually,
When that hour comes, young is done.
The Queen
Read by Whoopi Goldberg 🎧
The Queen.
Fortified in her walls, the Queen drank her wine, Alone in her halls, she passes time.
A brief look out the window as she exclaims “peasants...”Forgetting that we have given her the present. A gift so Grand it is often overlooked,it is her Palace of guards, servants and cooks.
A sudden moment of thanks floods her heart, She begs for arestart.
Bursting the balcony door to call to her people, They all gather below her golden steeple.
“I shall give you free fruits and vegetables” She said as they scratched their heads.
“An application allowing you to vote the evolution of your neighbourhood. I will ban the insecure designers up to no good. And I will treat you all as I should, a brother and sisterhood.
”Following her clause, the crowd gave an Applause.
She returned indoors and grabbed an apple, Put down her wine and went for a walk.
Dr. Pippiano Pippin
Dr. Pippiano Pippin listened as he played his Piano. Every note ignited delight and his fingers spoke.
His music was gentle. It paused within the beat. A master with the pedal he pressed with his feet.
Clouded by coding of the spoken word, Translated to notes as that of a chirping bird.
A B C
Lay the seed, pay me thee, crazy feen..
The top of his hat open to host tips, His jacket is split in case he lets one rip. His Piano was custom made for his
....
Silenceful bliss
Mother & Child
Read by Goldie Hawn 🎧
Mother and child had not seen each other in a while. Miles apart only helped warm their hearts.
They were separated for inner growth, Restlessness boiled in both.
Child was with her Grandmother who smothered her with love. Off the oven came a daily dose of hot cross buns. Child had won, won big because miles away, mother was working like a pig.
Igniting her cig with the mini rig lit to light, Mother would smoke from day through night. It helped with the stress that messed her life, only current would be this moment of strife.
A decision was made to quit the dirty habit, deeper down the rabbit hole or grab it. Lit to flick down just another drain, a lifelong of less pain...
Commemorated by praiseful rain.
The situation settled down and child came back, welcomed in the driveway with a snack, valet for her backpack, and a lack of sensory attack.
Smell.
Child could tell all would be well.
Well, I capture the two in laced embrace without a trace of smoke. Proximity…a poke.
Like mother like child, domesticated or wild, the Best and worst be better set aside
Exhibition Details
- Outdoor installation will be open to the public starting in July 2022
- Purchase fine prints, cards, books, and more merchandise at The Edge store (on the 4th floor at The Shops at Hudson Yards). All proceeds will benefit Project Healthy Minds.
Funds donated to Project Healthy Minds will support three objectives; to de-stigmatize conversations around mental illness, to provide access to mental health resources for individuals struggling with mental health and the friends and families that support them, and to support education and research dedicated to mental health.
About Project Healthy Minds
Project Healthy Minds is a Gen Z and millennial-driven mental health nonprofit building the first digital mental health marketplace to democratize access to life-changing services, partnering with public figures to destigmatize mental health, and creating standards for businesses to better support employee mental health.
