No, this statue you may have passed is not an extra-terrestrial monolith à la “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This half dinosaur half pony topiary is a very much intentional and very much terrestrial art installation by Jeff Koons entitled “Split-Rocker.” The “Split-Rocker” is making its New York City debut at 30 Rock to celebrate the opening of a Koons retrospective at the Whitney. The installation at 30 Rock was unveiled last Friday, June 27th after construction for a few weeks.
This massive topiary was inspired by Koons’ sons’ toys: a pony and a dinosaur. It coincides with his fascination with binaries. For Koons, the split rocker is meant to convey a sense of a “fantasy shelter.” And quite a “shelter” Split-Rocker could be — it is the size of a small house at 37-feet high. Unlike the average house, however, Split-Rocker boasts at least 50,000 flower arrangements.
The exhibition at the Whitney will be a comprehensive study of at least 150 of Koons’ works, and it will be the first complete retrospective of the prolific artist. Koons is known for defining the post-war art world, and transforming the relationship of artists to the ideology of celebrity and the global market.
