‘As Long as the Sun Lasts’, by Alex Da Corte: a Big Bird on the terrace of the MET
New York are its streets. And its non stop culture. So in times of pandemic, he has done what he does best: bring life to the streets, show the works of art on every corner. And this is the result.
LINCOLN CENTER GOES GREEN
The macro cultural center of the Upper West Side where opera, ballet and the New York Philharmonic coexist it becomes, until the month of September, a handy plan B to Central Park.
The designer Mimi Lien, creator of the sets for various theatrical and operatic productions, has laid out a gigantic layer of synthetic grass to cover the rather cold stone of the Plaza del Lincoln Center.
The GREEN It is a striking facelift that not only invites us to lie down in the sun, but also celebrates the return of functions after more than a year of pandemic closure. The artificial grass is actually made of soybeans and covers more than a thousand square meters, opening up to various spaces.
Lincoln Center has established partnerships with the city's arts centers to fill the new garden with activities for all ages. In addition to concerts and movie showings, the public library specializing in art and located on the same premises, will have its own reading tent to enjoy a good book.
The GREEN at Lincoln Center
A DRONE FLIES OVER THE HIGH LINE
It is very possible that, walking along the High Line, you feel watched. And you will not be wrong. From this spring and until the summer of 2022, a drone flies over the area called Plinth, the siding that ends at 30th Street and 10th Avenue.
This is the area dedicated to the most monumental works, which was inaugurated in 2019 with the Brick House by Simone Leigh. Now it's the turn of Sam Durant, who has recreated the dreaded drone called "predator" and has installed it on top of a steel mast of more than 7 meters.
In addition, its axis is not fixed so the ship moves according to the wind, adding another disturbing element. The drone is made of fiberglass and, despite its realism, Durant has stripped it of all the most characteristic details: cameras, ammunition, landing gear.
Playing with this model that the US Army has used in attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria, the artist pushes us to reflect on the use of drones as a weapon of surveillance and death.
A BIG BIRD ON THE MET TERRACE
Another impressive work that swings with the swing of the wind is the reinterpretation of the emblematic character of the North American children's series Sesame Street (not to be confused with the Gallina Caponata from the Spanish version).
Big Bird enjoys one of the best views in New York, resting on a moon and at one end of a mobile structure like the ones that decorate many baby cribs. The MET has accustomed us to these amazing facilities on its terrace and that can be visited from April to October, except on rainy days.
This year the museum has given the opportunity to Alex Da Corte, who has created this hypnotic work called As Long as the Sun Lasts (that is, while the sun shines).
The result is this celebrated child figure that loses its usual bright yellow to be covered in a dull blue. that connects with that lost gaze at the skyline of skyscrapers with which we identify a lot after having resisted a whole year of the pandemic.
‘As Long as the Sun Lasts’, work by Alex Da Corte
AN ORACLE PRESIDES THE ROCKEFELLER CENTER
Rockefeller Center is also a spectacular revolving art platform. The front door to the famous Fifth Avenue office complex changes guard every spring and only for a couple of months. And this year guards the access an imposing sculpture of more than 6 tons of weight and a height of almost 8 meters.
It's the Oracle of Sanford Biggers, a monumental bronze figure that combines African and Greco-Roman elements to point out the whitewashing of classical polychrome sculptures and European narcissism.
Biggers' work doesn't stop there. The artist has customized the flags that fly around the outdoor terrace of Rockefeller Center with patterns in the form of lines and curves that give it movement.
The corridors of the building also show his art, in particular, a mural of a blue sky printed with generous fluffy clouds and the words "Just Us", a play on words that, pronounced, sound like 'just us' or 'justice'.
FREEDOM RECLINED AT MORNINGSIDE PARK
This summer, New York adds a new Statue of Liberty. And now there are three, with the best known of all and its replica at the Brooklyn Museum. To see the third, you have to go up to Harlem, to the Morningside Park.
The artist Zaq Landsberg has created a very personal tribute because instead of finding the figure standing with its right arm raised, we see it lying on one side with his head resting on her hand.
Reclining Liberty is a tribute to the famous reclining Buddhas of Asia and its symbolism leads us to think about the current state of freedoms and to wonder about the future.
The statue is made of plaster and resin and prepared to be able to climb on it, if you feel that impulse. Also, Harlem exhibits 5 other works of art that are worth a visit so you can make the most of your excursion.
A GHOST FOREST IN MADISON SQUARE PARK
The so-called asphalt jungle has been transformed into a disturbing cedar forest. At least a little bit of it. The already leafy park of madison square , which extends along Fifth Avenue at the foot of the endearing Flatiron Building, has seen its plant population multiply with the incorporation of 49 trees for Maya Lin's new installation.
The visitor will feel like a dwarf surrounded by these cedars over 12 meters high, a species chosen with all the intention by the artist to denounce the threat that climate change represents for this type of varieties.
The immersion is total because, to accompany this impressive walk through the ghostly forest, the artist has created an audio track with the sound of animals that inhabited these lands, decades ago.
Maya Lin's 'Ghost Forest'
THE MOLES OF KUSAMA IN THE BOTANICAL GARDEN
We have little left to add to one of the most impressive facilities in New York to which we have dedicated an entire article.
The brilliant Japanese artist has filled the Bronx Botanical Garden with flowers, colors and pumpkins. This is one of the most comprehensive retrospectives dedicated to her by the city where she lived for much of her life, before returning to Japan.
In addition to two sculptures created by Kusama exclusively for this exhibition, this summer a new infinity room opens, entitled Illusion Inside the Heart, in which the interior changes color depending on the light of day. One more excuse to leave the island of Manhattan on your next trip to New York.
New York is filled with the colors and polka dots of Yayoi Kusama