This past Sunday, my guys and I took a break from our regular stretch of Rockaway Beach to spend the day a bit farther west in Fort Tilden so we could check out the opening of Katharina Grosse’s “ROCKAWAY!” MoMA PS1-sponsored installation. The paint was still tacky under our feet as we circled the perimeter and inside the sun cast beautiful shadows. Sand drifts made mountains up to the window sills and my son made fast friends with the other sun-kissed kiddos, climbing and jumping and squealing in delight.
From W Magazine:
“The Berlin-based installation artist Katharina Grosse has turned everything from uprooted trees to dirt piles into her canvas, and now, as of this weekend, she can add an entire beach house in the Rockaways to that list. Thanks to a crane or two and gallons of spray paint, she’s converted a former aquatics building in the Fort Tilden neighborhood deemed unsafe after the wreckage of Hurricane Sandy into ‘Rockaway!,’ a special outdoor exhibit for MoMA PS1. It’s part of a collaboration with the National Park Service, who will eventually raze the installation once it’s had its run in November.”
The photos I took (below) aim to give a sense of the beauty and brightness of the work, but it really should be seen in person to get the full experience. If you’re in the New York City area, treat yourself to a beautiful day at the beach (the house is easy walking distance from the far end Riis Park) and get your (very Instagrammable, #rockawaycolors) art on.