NEW YORK—Last Thursday, 20×200 issued a new series of photographs by Doug and Mike Starn. The four images capture “Big Bambú,” the artists’ 2010 rooftop installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from visually inspiring vantage points. A popular offering from the purveyor of accessibly priced art, all of the small, most affordable prints have sold out.
The photographs reminded me of what an amazing experience it was to explore the bamboo wonderland the Starns created for the Met exhibit. A combination of art, architecture and sculpture, it was a work in progress. The twin brothers continued to expand the ambitious structure while it was on display. The installation opened on April 27 and closed on Oct. 31, 2010, and ultimately was composed of about 7,000 bamboo poles.
The Starns work out of a studio in Beacon, N.Y., where they focus on conceptual photography, and build large, site-specific projects that draw on architecture and physics.
“See It Split, See It Change, ” an MTA Arts for Transit project they completed in 2009 for the South Ferry subway station in Lower Manhattan, provided an opportunity to apply their vision to a more practical context. The Starns designed both aesthetic and functional aspects of the station, and created very bright and white areas that are warmed up with elements that reference nature including laser-cut gating and large-scale photography on wall tiles.
For both the Met project and the subway installations, the Starns created transformational environments.
All photos by Arts Observer
