NYTimes article about big sfnal artwork
William December Starr
going to be in New York City:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/arts/design/11YABL.html> or
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/arts/design/11YABL.html?ex=1082260800&en=58aba6186c313410&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE>
if you don't want to do the free registration thing
April 11, 2004
New York's Watery New Grave
By LINDA YABLONSKY
It begins:
At a dinner party in January 2000, Alexis Rockman used his napkin to
outline a painting for Arnold L. Lehman, director of the Brooklyn
Museum. Part naturalist, part dreamer, Mr. Rockman wanted to alert the
world to the dangers of global warming, which he attributes to "the
history of human activity." The image, he said, would be "Angkor Wat
meets Brooklyn Bridge."
An admirer of what he calls the "historical-fantastical aspect" of Mr.
Rockman's work, Mr. Lehman was intrigued. His museum was already
looking into the future, having undertaken a $63 million expansion
that includes the new glass entrance pavilion opening to the public on
Saturday. At the same time, the museum will unveil the postapocalyptic
painting that grew out of that dinner party conversation in a
mezzanine gallery overlooking the refurbished Grand Lobby. Mr.
Rockman's oil-on-wood panorama, now titled "Manifest Destiny,"
measures 8 by 24 feet. Even so, it can barely contain its subject: the
Brooklyn waterfront, circa 5004. By then, he believes, the effects of
global warming will have left New York City soaking in 82 feet of
water the color of orange pekoe tea.
Now 41, Mr. Rockman dates the actual start of the painting to early
2002, when Mr. Lehman officially commissioned it. First, Mr. Rockman
walked to the East River from his basement studio in TriBeCa and
photographed the opposite shore the area between the Manhattan and
Brooklyn bridges known as Dumbo. "I felt that I needed something
iconic, like the Statue of Liberty in `Planet of the Apes,' " Mr.
Rockman said. "And I decided that the Brooklyn Bridge was it." All he
had to do now was find a way to represent the site as it might appear
3,000 years from now.
The article has some detail about the painting and its production.
Like I said, it sounds like something worth looking at.
By the way, there's also this paragraph:
Another influence, he said, was Chesley Bonestell, a legendary figure
in science-fiction and fantasy art illustration. "He did a series of
unbelievably convincing paintings that imagine different cities after
atomic bombings," Mr. Rockman recalled. "They've been really
important, too."
Does anyone know where those Bonestell paintings might be reproduced?
--
William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
Robert Carnegie
Starr <wds...@panix.com> writes
>
>Does anyone know where those Bonestell paintings might be
>reproduced?
Hmm. Most of the first results of using Google's "Images" tab for
<<"Chesley Bonestell>> were extraterrestrial landscapes, or
people standing around in movie studios (_Destination Moon_,
etc.) The one closest to devastated Earth architecture turned out
to be captioned as natural features on Mars, and a URL offered for
a Bonestell gallery has possibly changed hands, since the
subdirectory's gone and the root is a finance company. I could
have kept going, or tried "Bonestell" plus names of major cities
and/or landmarks - Chrysler, Liberty, Sears, Golden Gate, Eiffel,
Sydney Opera, Fuji, Taj Mahal...
Robert Carnegie at home, rja.ca...@excite.com at large
--
"Are you sure you want to post?" - my software, every time
Nancy Lebovitz
Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
>In article <c5ct8o$quh$1...@panix3.panix.com>, William December
>Starr <wds...@panix.com> writes
>>
>>Does anyone know where those Bonestell paintings might be
>>reproduced?
>
>Hmm. Most of the first results of using Google's "Images" tab for
><<"Chesley Bonestell>> were extraterrestrial landscapes, or
>people standing around in movie studios (_Destination Moon_,
>etc.) The one closest to devastated Earth architecture turned out
>to be captioned as natural features on Mars, and a URL offered for
>a Bonestell gallery has possibly changed hands, since the
>subdirectory's gone and the root is a finance company. I could
>have kept going, or tried "Bonestell" plus names of major cities
>and/or landmarks - Chrysler, Liberty, Sears, Golden Gate, Eiffel,
>Sydney Opera, Fuji, Taj Mahal...
If you're interested in a book, try
_The Art of Chesley Bonestell_ by Ron Miller, Frederick C. Durant III, and
Melvin H. Schuetz from Paper Tiger Press.
--
Nancy Lebovitz na...@netaxs.com www.nancybuttons.com
Now, with bumper stickers
Using your turn signal is not "giving information to the enemy"