Art in Focus

Rockefeller Center, in partnership with Art Production Fund, presents a series of public art pop-ups throughout the Center. Taking place in unique and unexpected locations, the multidisciplinary program showcases installations inspired by the New York City landscape and contemporary life.

Current Installation:

CYNTHIA TALMADGE

November 10 - December 31

Kicking off the iconic holiday season at Rockefeller Center, this installation situates Talmadge’s rigorously detailed and conceptually layered practice within the historical and cultural context of the Center. Visitors will get lost in Cynthia’s detailed narratives and delightful storytelling, offering a moment of reflection within the spectacle and thrill of the holiday season.

Talmadge has developed a site-specific public installation transforming Rockefeller Center into an immersive tableau that underscores the excitement and theatricality of the season. Here, Talmadge continues the story of Alan Smithee, an ongoing character and muse in her work. “Alan Smithee” has been historically used by Hollywood directors who remove their names from a film gone wrong. Talmadge brings that pseudonym to life, imagining Smithee as a man with a colorful personal life and new ambitions.

Inside the lobby vitrines of 45 Rockefeller Plaza, Talmadge employs sculptural elements to bring Smithee’s world to life. Skewed dioramas of a musical's set fill the spaces, while a bright pink Hollywood star of his name now wears a comedy-tragedy mask. Playbill posters, freshly designed, are scrawled and annotated in Smithee’s hand, as if hot off the press from his imagination. Photographs of costumes showcase heavily patched baby-blue plaids clashing with green and pink piping, projecting a well-rehearsed eccentricity. Even within Talmadge's clear narrative, the objects she imagines shift between costume and clothing, object and prop, creating a thought-provoking experience for passersby of the public exhibition.

Viewers will also discover Talmadge’s detailed paintings, exhibited at an enormous scale in the spaces of 45 Rockefeller Plaza, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, and 1 Rockefeller Plaza. Vivid colors explode throughout the exhibition in fuchsia, sky blue, and acid green, tying together scenes and ephemera, all parts of Smithee’s story.