"Cornelius" at Ponce City Market

PIANO TUNED BY QUIGLEY PIANO TECHNICAL SERVICES

Artist :  Theresa Dean

Piano Donor:  The Hodges Family

Location:  Ponce City Market

Find and play Cornelius on the 3rd Level of Ponce City Market near the Bike Valet just off the BeltLine.

Cornelius retired in 2024.
He was replaced with “Lin.”

Cornelius’s
Story

We couldn't be happier with the piano at Ponce City Market.  First of all, the donated piano was a beautiful piano, in beautiful condition, and the perfect size for our project.

The location is wonderful as well.  We love the unique community that is developing in and around Ponce City Market.  There's a special atmosphere that draws people together and makes them feel welcomed. Ponce City Market is the perfect place to showcase how magical an unexpected encounter with public music and art can be.

To top it all off, the piano has that bold graphic pattern that just calls out to the public.  It was designed and painted by local art teacher Theresa Dean, and was inspired by the work of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian.  Pietre Cornelis Mondrian, actually.  The piano's name, Cornelius, is the Americanized version of his middle name.

Mondrian evolved a non-representational form which he termed neoplasticism. This consisted of white ground, upon which he painted a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and the three primary colors.

Mondrian's work has had a lasting influence on popular culture.  This is a relatively short list examples:

  • Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent's Fall 1965 Mondrian collection featured dresses in blocks of primary color with black bordering, inspired by Mondrian. The collection proved so popular that it inspired a range of imitations that encompassed garments from coats to boots.

  • In the 1970s the television show The Partridge Family painted a 1957 Chevrolet school bus in Mondrian style.

  • 1980s R&B sensation Force MDs created a music video for their hit Love is a House, superimposing themselves performing inside of digitally drawn squares inspired by the Mondrian piece entitled Composition II.

  • The character Data in Star Trek the Next Generation has a copy of Mondrian's piece Tableau 1 in his quarters. It appears in four episodes: The Offspring in 1990, A Matter of Time in 1991, Silicon Avatar also in 1991, and Hero Worship in 1992.

  • In 1997 the software program Mondrian was developed. It's a general-purpose statistical data-visualization system, for interactive data visualization named for the artist.

  • Piet is an esoteric programming language named after Piet Mondrian in which programs look like abstract art. The programmer wanted to name it Mondrian, but the name was used already.

  • In 2005 the The Mondrian was completed, a 20-story high-rise in the Cityplace neighborhood of Oak Lawn in Dallas, Texas named for the artist.

  • The front cover to Australian rock band Silverchair's 5th and final album Young Modern (2007) is a tribute to Piet Mondrian's Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow.

  • In 2008, Nike released a pair of Dunk Low SB shoes inspired by Mondrian's iconic neo-plastic paintings.

  • Parc Mondrian is a 17-story apartment building in Singapore, completed in 2011, said to be inspired by Mondrian's works.

  • The Hague City Council honored Mondrian in 2017 by adorning walls of City Hall with reproductions of his works and describing it as "the largest Mondrian painting in the world."

  • And last, but not least...the Atlanta based nonprofit charity, Play Me Again Pianos, placed their 10th public piano, Cornelius, at Ponce City Market. It was designed and painted by artist Theresa Dean, and inspired by the work of artist Piet Mondrian.

About Thersesa Dean

Theresa received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University.  She currently resides in the metro Atlanta area teaching art in two separate Montessori schools.  “I am a lifelong artist who has found a home in the Montessori community.  There is nothing better than being able to give children the tools they need to express their own creativity.”

About Ponce City Market 

Ponce City Market is a historic, mixed-use community hub featuring local and world-class food, retail, residential lofts, and office space. Developed by Atlanta-based real estate investment and management company Jamestown, Ponce City Market is a landmark for Atlanta’s skyline and an iconic destination for visitors and neighbors alike, serving as a connecting point for adjoining in-town neighborhoods. The revitalized building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With ample public green space and a pedestrian network directly linked to the Atlanta BeltLine corridor, the project combines 259 residential flats; 550,000 square feet of Class-A office space; 300,000 square feet of retail including West Elm, The Frye Company, Binders Art Supplies, and Google Fiber; and centers for learning like Suzuki School and General Assembly. At its core is a buzzing indoor/outdoor Central Food Hall featuring restaurants and food stalls from James Beard Award-winning and -nominated chefs like Jonathan Waxman, Anne Quatrano, Linton Hopkins, Sean Brock, Hugh Acheson, Hector Santiago, and Meherwan Irani. Ponce City Market allocates 20% of its residential units as affordable housing, and for visitors arriving on two wheels, there are 500 bike parking spaces and a complimentary bike valet. A portion of the parking fee at Ponce City Market is donated to the Atlanta BeltLine. For more information, please visit PonceCityMarket.com.

Cornelius's Birthdate:  August 6, 2017
Installation #9
Cornelius Retired: March 5, 2024

Share Your Cornelius Stories

If you have a story with Cornelius that you'd like to share, please do so, we'd love to hear from you! We'd also enjoy seeing your pictures and videos.

Tag:
@PlayMeAgainPianos
#PMAPCornelius