Orly Genger at Madison Square Park – Red, Yellow and Blue

Orly Genger at Madison Square Park

Red, Yellow and Blue

May 2nd-September 8th, 2013

Photos and text by Hanne H7L

Year after year Madison Square Park has played host to a myriad of art installations, and artist Orly Genger’s piece Red, Yellow and Blue is a piece that does for Madison Square Park what Christo’s Gates did for Central park back in 2005.

Drawing inspiration from Barnett Newman’s color field titled Who’s Afraid of Red Yellow and Blue?, Genger’s site-specific installation carries itself with a bold magnitude that one cannot help but be drawn in by. Consisting of 1.4 million feet of knitted rope covered in over 3500 gallons of paint, the three different colored pieces that comprise the installation rise and fall in a wave pattern, obscuring and revealing the main lawn of the park which they surround. Beyond the sheer scale of the piece, it is the oscillating shape that the installation forms that truly entices the viewer, the primary colors complementing the green palette of the park’s natural features beautifully. 

Genger’s installation is one that truly carries its own weight through its interaction with the surrounding space and impressive craft sensibility as expressed through the materials, expounding and expanding upon its color field influence.

This is a work that simply has to be seen in three dimensions to appreciate its multifaceted success, and I am glad to see it will remain in the park for another 2 months to come before it is deinstalled and reimagined at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (located outside Boston) in October.