Holland Cotter writes: “Closer to home there was…a stirring lament of a public sculpture, called “Craig’s Closet” by the American artist Jim Hodges, installed in the park adjacent to the New York City AIDS Memorial. In part thanks to its placement near the memorial, the piece kept personal and political content in subtle sync, in an image that spoke of lives we had and have, lives we lost and are still losing, and lives we need to fight not to forget.”

Chris Bogia is a Queens, New York–based artist as well as the cofounder and former executive director of Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR). In February’s Artforum, he shares his Top Ten, which includes Jim Hodges’ Craig’s closet at the New York City AIDS Memorial, which, he writes, “interrupts the artist’s kaleidoscopic parade with a dark intermission,” as “a meaningful marker.”

St. Vincent’s Triangle, a small park in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, is named for the hospital that once stood nearby. A site of sorrow and loss for the LGBTQ+ community, St. Vincent’s hospital was known as ground zero of the city’s AIDS epidemic, opening the first ward for AIDS care on the East Coast in 1984. The triangle is a fitting site for the New York City AIDS Memorial—which opened in 2016—and for a new sculpture unveiled earlier this month: Called Craig’s closet, the artwork will remain at the site until May 2024.

Maya Pontone writes: “A granite and painted bronze replica of a bedroom closet frozen in time, “Craig’s closet” is an intimate interior space brought outdoors that explores the intangible experiences and memories contained in material objects left behind: shirts and jackets on hangers; filled drawers and packed shelves; stacks of untouched books and folders; bags and boxes holding unknown treasures.”

Jameson Montgomery writes: “This year, a sculptural installation by the artist Jim Hodges has been added to the triangle’s small lawn. Titled “Craig’s Closet,” the work honors the musician Craig Ducote, with whom Hodges lived at the time of his death in 2016.”

An open closet now stands in New York’s AIDS Memorial Park. In it are hangers and hoodies, stacked boxes and folded weekend bags. The structure looks, in other words, like a generic storage space. It is and it isn’t.

The New York City Aids Memorial in has unveiled a new, site-specific sculpture by Jim Hodges as part of its public art initiative and the city’s Art in the Parks programme. Opened in 2016 to honour the more than 100,000 New Yorkers who have died of Aids, the memorial has hosted nearly 20 installations and events

Recognized for his beautiful transpositions of the intimate world into art, Jim Hodges is set to debut his new sculpture, Craig’s closet, this week. The granite and bronze sculpture, which is a rendering of a literal closet, asks viewers to think about items they keep sacred. The piece brings the personal into the public, confronting viewers with the boundaries between both. The sculpture will be on display for one year, continuing the New York City AIDS Memorial’s public art program.