Ugo Rondinone’s “Human Nature” continues to rise at Rockefeller Center through July 7 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Rockefeller Center Plaza
Fifth & Sixth Aves. between 49th & 50th Sts.
Through July 7, free
www.publicartfund.org
human nature slideshow
For several years, Swiss-born installation artist Ugo Rondinone’s “Hell, Yes” rainbow could be seen on the facade of the New Museum downtown. For the last few months, the New York City-based Rondinone has filled Rockefeller Center Plaza with something quite different: giant rock sculptures standing tall, as if tourists posing for pictures at the historic site. Of course, tourists are actually having their pictures taken standing in front of the imposing yet seemingly friendly objects, which rise between sixteen and twenty feet high and weigh up to fifteen tons each. The nine figures are made of blocks of bluestone rock from northern Pennsylvania, and they do indeed appear to contain human characteristics, although more from the, er, stone age. Over time, they even appear to have weathered somewhat, rusting as if growing old. “The stone figure is the most archetypal representation of the human form, an elemental symbol of the human spirit, connected to the earth yet mythic in the imagination,” Rondinone said about the work, a project of the Public Art Fund. “The image of the figure belongs to nobody, is timeless, and universal.” Visitors can touch the sculptures, walk between their massive legs, and marvel at their unique shadows that fill the popular space. Smaller versions of these rock-people were recently on view at the Gladstone Gallery in Chelsea, in an exhibition titled “soul,” but this grouping takes it all to another level.