Face Time: Last chance to bid in Coney Island, USA fundraiser

The Great Fredini's personal take on the "Funny Face Project" he launched.

The iconic face that had been the logo of Coney lsland’s Steeplechase Park until it closed down in 1963 has several names: “Steeplechase Face,” “Tillie,” “Smiling Face,” and “Funny Face.” The grinning man with 44 teeth (12 more than normal) was revived in the 1980s when his wide-mouthed visage became the logo for Coney Island, USA, a non-profit arts organization that helps the surrounding neighborhoods with community arts programming. As Coney Island is being redeveloped and, especially after the Astroland amusement park was closed down in summer 2008, the organization is also working to preserve the area’s unique carnival culture. Now Coney Island, USA is taking its relationship with Steeplechase Face one step further by making him the centerpiece of an initiative to raise money for their organization with the help of several prominent glass artists.

The mastermind behind the “Funny Face Project” is Fred Kahl, known to many as “The Great Fredini,” who hatched a plan that is part Cow Parade (the innovative public art fundraising effort that begain in 1998) and part carnival sideshow. Artists working in all media were invited to submit their personal edition of the funny face, and the results are being auctioned off at the Jonathan O’Hara Gallery on Wednesday, September 16th, from 7 – 10 PM.  The work can be seen in person on Tuesday between 10 AM and 5 PM. The faces also are available for preview online until Wednesday at 1 PM. (You can also see our own gallery at the bottom of this posting.)

To fully appreciate these works, though, especially the many in glass, one must see them in person. The brilliant pink and orange in James Harmon’s funny face turns muted when viewed online. The magnitude of the Blueberry Lollipop and Red Cherry Lollipop Kim Harty cast in sugar using the molds that The Great Fredini supplied to all artists just doesn’t translate unless you are standing looking through the cellophane at her fully edible, over-sized lollipops on a stick. The genius that is Genvieve Estes Faberge Funny Face,  a glass egg sitting on a stand of coiled wire, utilizes several distorted renditions of the funny face to provide an unsettling hall-of-mirrors feel best appreciated when you can walk around the piece.

Tickets to the Wednesday evening auction at the Jonathan O’Hara Gallery are $50, and many of the pieces are already getting bids above the $100 starting price. The gallery holds 200 people and a packed house is expected, according to The Great Fredini.

“Coney Island has always been a real source for inspiration for artists. It’s really a special place,” says Kahl. For The Great Fredini, the auction is important because it helps support a cause that cuts to the very heart of the city’s identity: “I mean, can you imagine New York City without an amusement park?”

—Simone Monet-Williams