Olaf Breuning’s “Clouds” offer a fun respite at Central Park entrance (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Scholar’s Gate, Doris C. Freedman Plaza
Central Park entrance, 60th St. & Fifth Ave.
Through August 24, free
www.publicartfund.org
clouds slideshow
While the weather continues to be unpredictably crazy, it’s been nothing but blue clouds at the southeast entrance to Central Park since late winter. Yes, that’s right — not blue skies or white clouds but sky-blue clouds, offering a Magritte-like vista nearly three dozen feet high. In March, Swiss-born, New York-based artist Olaf Breuning installed “Clouds” on Doris C. Freedman Plaza at Scholar’s Gate on Sixtieth St. and Fifth Ave., a half dozen polished and painted aluminum clouds in different shades of blue, posted atop what look like ramshackle ladders that evoke a shaky stairway to heaven. The clouds were based on a childlike drawing by Bruening, inspired by a 2008 project in Italy in which he had cranes and cherry pickers lift six cloud constructions to the sky in order to take a photograph; he initially drew blue clouds instinctively, then decided to leave them that color and not make them white. For New York, the clouds will remain up for approximately five months, through August 24, appearing to change color as the weather goes from stormy to blazing hot, with gray skies giving way to bright, shiny days. The clouds also interact with the park entrance, particularly now against the lush green background. Breuning often infuses his work with a childlike wonder and playfulness, as evidenced by such whimsical exhibitions as “The Art Freaks” and “Small Brain Big Stomach,” shown in recent years at Metro Pictures in Chelsea, and his colorful “Smoke Grid,” which exploded at Art Basel in Miami in December. “Clouds” manages to spread a little sunshine even on the darkest days, especially if you catch them at just the right angle, melding into the real sky above one of the most popular places in the city.