Detail of the concept sketch for Flow Separation, March 2018, courtesy Tauba Auerbach. Fireboat John J. Harvey, photo by David Grill
This weekend, the New York artist Tauba Auerbach is painting a historic boat into a marbled artwork that is super sparkly. She will take art enthusiasts on hour-long ferry trips around New York on the John J. Harvey fireboat, which was built in 1931, retired in 1994 and is famous for helping people evacuate lower Manhattan during the September 11 attacks.
Auerbach’s piece, Flow Separation, the dazzling marble pattern is meant to restore the rusted paint and “camouflage” the from others. Boat trips will take place on weekends from July 13 to September 23, in groups of 80 people and last up to an hour.
“The palette exaggerates the fact that ‘dazzling’ was more about confusing and outsmarting, rather than about hiding, as I like those instances where cleverness is an antidote to brute force,” says the artist.
Text by Nadja Sayej
Photos via thegentlewoman
