When we saw Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror unveiling in September, we figured we’d be back to check it out in its unobstructed glory. In truth, one slightly obscured look was enough.
In comparison to his sculpture, The Bean (or Cloud Gate for purists), in Chicago’s Millenium Park, Sky Mirror is a disappointment. While one can touch, walk through, and interact indefinitely with the Bean, Sky Mirror allows for nothing after studying its two angles and admiring 30 Rockefeller Plaza upside down. Forget playing with the reflected perspectives of the sculpture. Only through a telephoto lens can one get close enough to Sky Mirror to recognize their reflection. It’s telling that the Bean’s cloudiness is the result of greasy finger tips, while the Sky Mirror’s murkiness is only the result of construction flaws.
The Sky Mirror comes down tomorrow, October 27th. Unlike the Gates of 2006, it will not live on as cheap promotional swag.
In anticipation of tomorrow’s unveiling, Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror is getting full service treatment. This evening at least a half dozen workers polished and buffed the convex and concave steel surfaces to a shine. At 35 feet in diameter and 23 tons, readying the Sky Mirror for display is no small task.
Sky Mirror will be on display to the public from September 19 through October 26, 2006. It’s located at Rockefeller Center (5th Avenue between 49th and 50th Street).
Photographs, let alone renderings, hardly do this piece justice. Go check it out, but be prepared to elbow your way through a crowd. People were already massing around to catch a mirrored glimpse of themselves. We wonder how many rubbernecking drivers will crash their cars driving past on 5th Avenue.
From artist, Anish Kapoor, the creator of Chicago’s Bean, comes the Sky Mirror. From September 19th through October 27th, this 35-foot concave mirror made of polished stainless steel will rest at Rockefeller Center and offer an upside down view of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Its concave side, angled upward, will face 30 Rockefeller Plaza, reflecting an upside-down portrait of this elegant and iconic New York City skyscraper and the shifting sky around it. Its convex side, facing Fifth Avenue, will reflect a more earthly vision: viewers in the midst of the adjacent streetscape. The sculpture is freestanding, with polished surfaces that are seamless and uninterrupted. This optical object will change through the day and night and is an example of what Kapoor describes as a “non-object,” a sculpture that, despite its monumentality, suggests a window or void and often seems to vanish into its surroundings.
At nearly three stories tall, it’s a larger version of Nottingham’s Sky Mirror. In case you forgot, this is the second time in recent months that New York City has received a piece of secondhand public art. In May, Larry Silverstein unveiled Jeff Koons’ “Balloon Flower (Red)” at WTC 7, just one of many versions of the same sculpture.
If we can’t have a fresh new shape, at least we’ve got it bigger.
Computer rendering of Sky Mirror via NY Times.
