ste!!a gassaway: unpredictable thoughts

I was working on an ad for the segd conference + expo which will be in Montréal in 2011. It made me think of this wonderful public art. On our visit there a few years back we discovered the lipstick forest. Both Margaret and I wandered through the trees and played a bit of hide and seek. It is brilliant!

more about the lipstick forest >

Haven’t you always wanted to walk on water?

I have admired Maya Lin’s work for two decades. The thoughtfulness, the scale, and the amazing balance of the discipline of architecture and the emotional vocabulary are controlled yet create both visceral reactions that then trigger intellectual responses.
Her investigation of water/waves and their distinct states have created internal conversations that have manifest themselves in my hieroglyphics that have come after Egyptian Waters.

I dream of walking on the waters, floating in the space between the waves.

Now I will make the equivalent of a pilgrimage to the Wave Field at Storm King. I will walk on the waves, I will lie and stand between the waves unable to see beyond the lead wave or the following one. I will photograph my point of view. I will capture video of the changing light. I will stand on the waters suspended in time.

THE ARTIST : Maya Lin
THE SPACE : Storm King
EXHIBITION : Wave Field

Tags: art, Storm King, NY, Maya Lin, Sculpture, installation, wave field, water

New York in the summer is a sluggish time with the heat and humidity driving anyone who lives in the city to shore, mountain retreats, or europe. However, for those that cannot escape there is a wonderful new public art project to cool your mind if not your body.

While meandering through one of the many copies of the Times piled on our coffee table at Stellarvisions I came across an article about the new really BIG public art project by Olafur Eliasson. This project involves lots of water and that is a cool thing. This is a project so compelling it will draw many to see it during their sultry vacations.

I haven’t seen any of this project in person yet but I have been visiting the many places on the web that will help you find out more about Olafu Eliasson and the Public Art Fund who made this installation happen. You can see this work by train, boat, bicycle, or foot and the nycwaterfalls.org website will give you the scoop.

This is a huge project in all ways. There are four waterfalls they are between 90 and 120 feet tall, water will fall between 7 and 10 pm. The water will be lighted in the evening. The engineering is an incredible feat; pulling water up from the river to let it rain down to its source again. It cost 15 million bucks and the Public Art Fund tapped everyone including the Major to make it happen.

I’m thinking the Circle Line tour is a good idea. No lugging around my camera, picnic basket and all. Seems like you would have to experience it so many ways and times of day. This could keep us all busy until October when the installation closes.

Without even visiting the work it has made me think of the water that surrounds Manhattan in a different way. It brings the water to life again. No longer just a surface upon which boats pass and commerce takes place. It is a surface that can be broken. It reminds us of the nature of water and water in nature. Its not a leap to move into the thoughts of our experiences with gentle sprays and powerful cascades.

Thanks to Olafur Eliasson for creating this internal and external conversation.

Here’s a look at some of the info available on the web. Even if you can’t make the trip to NYC. You can experience the work in another way.

Tags: art, sculpture, installation, nyc, new york, public art, big art, Olafur Eliasson