Rose II
Isa Genzken
German, born 1948
2007
A thirty-six-foot stainless-steel and aluminum rose, lacquered for color, that turns a small domestic bloom into an industrial, monumental presence intended to confront the scale and gloss of the city.
What strikes you first is the comic, surreal scale—the bright lacquered orange-red flower crowning a silvery, thorned stem with pale leaves, set against reflective glass so the whole thing reads like a single, vertical, uncanny gesture in the plaza.
By enlarging a familiar object and fabricating it in industrial materials, Genzken blurred boundaries between sculpture, architecture, and pop imagery, challenging traditional public monuments and showing how everyday forms can be reactivated in the urban landscape.
Medium
Stainless steel, aluminum, and lacquer
Dimensions
36' x 9' 6" x 42" (1097.3 x 289.6 x 106.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Alfred H. Barr, Jr., and gift of the Advisory Committee (both by exchange)
Accession
249.2014
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
