Nearly two decades after his death, Roy Lichtenstein continues to be one of the most recognizable, talked-about artists of the 20th century.
Next week, those who drive by the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill will better understand why.
Mr. Lichtenstein’s soaring, colorful sculptures, “Tokyo Brushstroke I & II”—completed by the large-scale artist with painted and fabricated aluminum in 1994, just three years before he died—will mark the museum’s entrance on Montauk Highway by Friday, April 18. It is the first-ever long-term outdoor installation at the Parrish’s new Herzog & de Meuron-designed building, thanks to a loan from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
“This awe-inspiring work promises to become a cultural landmark,” said Director Terrie Sultan, “and a beacon that draws visitors to the Parrish.”
Taller than the museum itself, “Tokyo Brushstroke I” stands 33 feet high and weighs more than six tons. A crane will install the sculpture—which is actually constructed in two pieces to be joined on site—into a cement brace near its smaller counterpart “Tokyo Brushstroke II”—coming in at 19 feet high and just over two tons.
The pair is part of a “brushstroke” sculpture series predominantly constructed in the 1990s. Similar “brushstroke groups” can be found in Madrid, Paris, Singapore and Washington, D.C. Mr. Lichtenstein’s contribution explores the contradiction between the fleeting nature of an artist’s brushstroke and the monumentality and permanence of art.
“It’s a symbol of something it isn’t,” Mr. Lichtenstein, who lived in Southampton with his wife, Dorothy, said of the work, “and that is part of the irony I’m interested in.”
For more information, visit parrishart.org.
on Apr 7, 2014