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11/9/2006

Sarah Morris - Robert Towne

Lever House, New York

A new project at Lever House

Presented at Lever House
Organized by Public Art Fund

Sarah Morris’s project at Lever House, Robert Towne, transforms the entire first floor of this midtown Manhattan architectural icon with a vivid geometric abstraction. Since the mid-1990s, Morris has been internationally renowned for her complex abstractions and films, which are derived from close observation of the architecture and psychology of urban environments. In the paintings she uses colors and geometries that she associates with a city’s unique vocabulary and palette, as well as its character and energy. Robert Towne, a temporary installation at Lever House commissioned by the Public Art Fund, is Morris’s expanded variation on an abstract work from her recent “Los Angeles" series (2004-06). Painted directly on the ground-level ceiling, Robert Towne covers the entire 19,744-square-foot cross section of the building, encompassing both its indoor lobby and outdoor courtyard.

Lever House, designed by Gordon Bunshaft and built between 1950 and 1952, is a quintessential example of the type of mid-century Modernist skyscraper that inspired the artist’s first city series, “Midtown" (1997-99). Morris depicted the building’s monolithic blue-green glass and stainless-steel facade in two paintings in that body of work. Her engagement with architecture transcends physical characteristics to focus on the ways in which buildings and urban development reflect and shape human interaction and the global flow of power. When Lever House was completed, it was almost immediately welcomed as an iconic if controversial addition to Park Avenue. The architect’s unusual decision to give up valuable ground-floor square footage to create an open courtyard and pedestrian arcade was praised by some, while others criticized the area as being dark and unusable. In creating an artwork that dramatically alters the nature of Lever House’s plaza, Morris observes and adds to the l ongstanding dialogue about corporate public/private spaces.

The work is named after Robert Towne, the legendary Hollywood writer, director, producer and actor, who is best known for his screenplays, which include Chinatown (1974), Shampoo (1975) and Personal Best (1982), and for being the script doctor behind such films as Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Parallax View (1974). His works are marked by their moral ambivalence, realistic dialogue and ruthless dissection of cruel or corrupt systems of social authority. Morris describes him as “an elliptical figure" whose career exemplifies a certain characteristic mode of working in the film industry typified by collaboration, behind-the-scenes influence, and shared or changing roles.

Like the works in the Los Angeles series, Robert Towne features intersecting lines and interconnected hexagons, forming a visual correlation to what Morris describes as the city’s fluid and multifaceted power dynamic. With Robert Towne, Morris maps the aesthetics of one city onto the architecture of another, linking the country’s two cultural capitals and bridging the past decade of her work.

This exhibition is sponsored by RFR Holding LLC

Special thanks to Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York

Location:
Lever House is located on Park Avenue between 53rd and 54th Streets, New York.
Subway: 6, E, V to 51st Street - Lexington Avenue. The exhibition is free and is on view daily.

Public Art Fund
One East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022 E-mail: press@publicartfund.org Tel: 212.980.4575 Fax: 212.980.3610

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