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.
Find more information about the Split-Rocker on our coverage of the construction of the topiary. And for more nature at 30 Rock, check out the secret gardens on the roof of the skyscraper, which have been featured on the show “30 Rock.”
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