Over A Hundred Unused Mannequins Reborn As Art Projects

An art exhibition consisting of 140 mannequins took place in New City, New York as a way to help artists who were affected by the effects of the last two years.

The Art Reborn project, funded by the Daniel & Trudy Regan Foundation, featured the work of a range of local artists who each were given a mannequin dummy to paint on as they saw fit.

The mannequins were taken from stores that had gone bankrupt as a result of the economic effects of the last two years that had led to many retail businesses being forced to close or moved to online storefronts.

The mannequins were given to artists who had lost much of their work, who were given carte blanche to alter them as they saw fit, as an attempt to give artists supplemental income and a project to work on.

Many of the artists were grateful for the paid work and the potential to catapult their career after over a year without in-person exhibitions and displays and ranged from novices and new artists to accomplished set designers on Broadway.

As well as the mannequin displays themselves, wigs and mannequin heads were used to create a history of hairstyles dating back from the dawn of humanity, there was a demonstration of music and contemporary dance, and a showcase of an art teacher who taught classes via Zoom.

Daniel Regan, 85, had a successful career in construction and project development, before forming the Daniel & Trudy Regan Foundation three decades ago as a way to give back to the artist community in New York.

The exhibition highlighted the unique and expressive nature of mannequins beyond their use for tailoring clothes, fitting and visual merchandising.