a rose,AROSE

Photo by Phyllis Odessey.  Copyright 2011 Phyllis Odessey

"We don't copy the objects we use, we try to transform them and we hope they go on transforming as you look at them.  The idea of endless public diaglogue...visual dialogue...is very important to us."  Claes Oldenburg

Park Ave  from 67 street to 57 Street, Will Ryman site-specific art installatoin.
Photo by Phyllis Odessey.  Copyright 2011 Phyllis Odessey

"If you look at the stems, they're sort of dancing."  Will Ryman

Walking down Park Avenue is never comfortable for me.  The avenue is staid and stately, and I am not.  For the next three months, I can let myself go and have some FUN on the avenue.  Will Ryman's "Roses" installation is about humor, color and celebration.

Photo by Phyllis Odessey. Copyright 2011 Phyllis Odessey
The longest stems are 25 feet above street level.  1-2 ft. beetles, bees, ladybugs and aphids crawl up the stems.

Photo by Phyllis Odessey. Copyright 2011 Phyllis Odessey 

Photo by Phyllis Odessey. Copyright 2011 Phyllis Odessey

The Roman Emperor Nero showered his guests with rose petals, in the same vein, Ryman has sprinkled his petals up Park Avenue.  I especially like this touch:  deconstructing his own sculpture.

The view up Park Avenue
Photo by Phyllis Odessey. Copyright 2011 Phyllis Odessey

Oldenburg said "My monuments are obstructions, but so is the Arc De Triomphe...traffic has to go around it."  Ryman's "Roses," are not barriers, but ornaments on the fingers of Park Avenue.

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted."  Henri Matisse

A few fun facts about the rose:
1.  The Rose is the official flower of New York State.
2.  French explorer Samuel de Champlain brought the first cultivated rose to North America
3.  The oldest representation of the rose:  a fresco in Crete 1450 B.C.
4.  The first patent ever registered for a plant was a hydridized rose.

All photos in this blog by Phyllis Odessey.  Copyright 2011 Phyllis Odessey.