Roxy Paine at the Met

Roxy Paine is a) an awesome name, and b) a creator of a hell of a museum topper. Maelstorm, pictured above and below, is a steel thing that totally captivated me on this grey day when I made it up to the roof of the Met before it started raining.

It's quite a tangle, and the silver surface reflects the sky and some of the green of Central Park. For such a large, invase, twisted sculpture, it is remarkable harmonious in its setting. The intertwined limbs sprawling out might seem chaotic, and they did, but in fact they suited the space and setting marvelously. This is the most recent in a series of Dendroid tree-like sculptures. He tries to merge varying sizes of piping together in a replication of natural growth patterns. The repetition of organic patterns in monochramatic and abstract forms reminds me of what I like best in Tara Donovan's work (like her 2007 wall installation at the Met).

Maelstorm will be up through November 29, 2009, so you still have a chance to see it before it gets taken down. I have to say, it fills the space a hundred times better than previous works that have been up (Jeff Koon's comes to mind.)