In recent weeks, a bright pink beacon has appeared on the High Line at West 30th Street. Standing 25 feet tall at the top of the High Line Base, old tree is the work of a Swiss artist Pamela Rosenkranzits 145 branches reminiscent of both the branches of a tree and human blood vessels.
“This piece immediately stood out for the ambition for scale, and the color is something incredible that took it to a whole new level,” said Cecilia Alemani, Director and Chief Curator of High Line Art at Artnet News during the installation of the work. . “It’s like the central square of a village with a tree and benches around it.”
Made outside San Diego and shipped across the country in two trucks, the artwork had arrived in pieces, a steel frame covered in spray foam and carefully sculpted into delicate branches sealed with epoxy.
Each of the 16 limbs and six roots were carefully assembled on site, the tree growing little by little, almost as if it had been planted there by Rosenkranz. (The artist even covered the plinth with an earthy surface to make it look like dirt.)
Pamela Rosenkranz, old tree (2023). A High Line Plinth command. Photo by Timothy Schenck courtesy of High Line, New York.
“It’s a synthetic man-made tree in the middle of a park,” Alemani said. This contrast between the natural and the artificial – on a park that is itself an abandoned railway line once reclaimed by nature – was part of what drew her to the work, which was proposed for the first times in 2020 in response to an open call. He became a finalist for the site in November.
old tree is the third commission for the base, launched in 2019 with A brick house by Simone Leigh. (This piece later won a Golden Lion At Venice Biennale 2022, organized by Alemani.) It follows Untitled (drone) by Sam Durant.
Pamela Rosenkranz, old tree (2023). A High Line Plinth command. Photo by Timothy Schenck courtesy of High Line, New York.
The bold color of the new artwork is a stark departure from its two predecessors, which were black and white, as well as the Hudson Yards skyscrapers towering above it.
“This new part of town is a bit chilly, with incredible glazed and mirrored surfaces. It’s so corporate and masculine in a way,” Alemani said. “The contrast with the environment is truly magnificent.”
Pamela Rosenkranz, old tree (2023). A High Line Plinth command. Photo by Timothy Schenck courtesy of High Line, New York.
Rosenkranz applied the bright reddish-pink paint as she would on any of her canvases, with seven layers covered in a clear UV coating.
You can see subtle drips and variations in texture from the painted surface, which adds to the fleshy, bodily feel of the artwork. The trunk could be a torso, muscular and strong, while the roots and branches recall a delicate network of veins and capillaries.
Compared to the initial renders, Alemani said, “it looks a lot less like a tree.”
Pamela Rosenkranz, old tree (2023). A High Line Plinth command. Photo by Timothy Schenck courtesy of High Line, New York.
The unveiling of the works comes ahead of the opening of a new extension to the High Line Spur, which was once slated for demolition. Just beyond the plinth and nearing completion is the new Login MoynihanFirst of all announced by then Governor Andrew Cuomo in January 2021.
The Woodland Bridge, which stretches along 30th Street, was built last year, with 63 trees, 90 shrubs and more than 5,000 grasses and flowers. This weekend, it was connected to the public plaza of Brookfield Properties’ Manhattan West building on 9th Avenue with the installation of a 300-foot wooden bridge made of Alaskan yellow cedar. From here, pedestrians will be able to access the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station.
The installation of the new wooden bridge, connecting the High Line Spur’s Woodland Bridge to Manhattan West and Moynihan Station. Photo by Andrew Frasz, courtesy of High Line, New York.
“You can walk to the West Village without crossing the street,” Alemani said.
The $50 million project is expected to open to the public this summer.
“Pamela Rosenkranz: Old Treeis on view at the High Line at the Spur, at West 30th Street and 10th Avenue, New York, from May 2023 to September 2024.
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