New Exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Roxy Paine's Monumental Sculpture Maelstrom on the Roof Garden

Apr 21, 2009

From April 28 to October 25, 2009 Roxy Paine's sculpture Maelstrom will be shown as a new exhibit on the Roof Garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

This summer a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art should include a climb up to the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, the most dramatic space to view sculpture in New York City, where Roxy Paine's monumental sculpture Maelstrom will be installed as a new exhibit. This stainless steel sculpture is 130 feet long and 45 feet wide and encompasses the nearly 8,000-square-foot Roof Garden. It is the largest sculpture ever shown on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum.

The Art of Roxy Paine

The swirling entanglement of stainless-steel pipe is typical for the work of the 43-year-old American conceptional artist Roxy Paine. And its presentation in front of the Central Park's natural green background and its architectural backdrop are a good example of the work of the artist who is highly interested in the interplay between nature and the environment changed by man as well as the human desire for order in nature's chaos.

The artist builds elaborate and complex constructions that deal with complex concerns, and he thus provides fertile ground for thoughts and contemplation. Since the mid-1990s he has created art that can be divided into three categories:

The Sculpture Maelstrom as the New Exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City

Maelstrom falls into the third category. It can be interpreted as a study of whirling water or a neural network and is part of a series of work based on branching structures like trees, neurons, pipelines or vascular networks. Thus this sculpture is part of the Dendroids, a series of works started in 1998. Maelstrom is largely handwrought and consists of thousands of stainless-steel pipes of varying sizes that were welded together. Visitors are encouraged to move through the installation to experience its drama and turbulence.

This new exhibit will give visitors to the Metropolitan Museum the chance to experience modern art very closely and give them a hands-on feeling when they move around and through the installation - an unusual way of interacting with a work of art. Gary Tinterow, the Museum's Engelhard Chairman of the Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art, stated: "Roxy Paine has created for the Metropolitan Museum his most remarkable work to date, a stunning sculpture that commands the environment through interaction. I feel certain that our visitors will marvel at the complexity of the sculpture, and delight in its beauty."

Anybody who wants to learn more about this work of art and the artist who created it can do so during guided tours of the Roof Garden.The Metropolitan Museum will offer some education programs like gallery talks on the following days:

The copyright of the article New Exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Special Art Gallery Exhibits is owned by Monika Fuchs. Permission to republish New Exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jun 18, 2009 6:27 AM

Guest :

It's so weird because I just came from NY and saw the exhibit and when I came back I did not know what everybody was talking about!!! LOL