The Eye

A German Artist Spray-Painted a Building Destroyed by Sandy Before It’s Demolished

German artist Katharina Grosse spray-painted a soon-to-be-demolished building destroyed by Superstorm Sandy for MoMA PS1’s “Rockaway!” series.

Pablo Enriquez

MoMA PS1 commissioned German artist Katharina Grosse to spray-paint a post–Superstorm Sandy ruin at the Gateway National Recreation Area at Fort Tilden, New York, for the 2016 edition of its ongoing series “Rockaway!

Pablo Enriquez

The artist’s blank canvas was Fort Tilden’s former aquatics building, which became structurally unsound after Sandy in 2012 and will be demolished by the end of the year. To memorialize the seaside ruin on its way to oblivion, Grosse spray-painted the building, inspired by “the bold colors of sunset in the Rockaways,” according to a project description, but the reddish streaks of color also eerily resemble a bloodbath, as if marking the scene of a crime.

Pablo Enriquez

Pablo Enriquez

“Grosse seeks to extend the scope of her paintings beyond the traditional borders of a canvas,” according to a project description. “She uses a technique in which brightly colored paint is sprayed directly onto site-specific structures. In doing so, she incorporates both the architectural features of the space, and materials located in its immediate vicinity, such as sand, trees, sea grass and pavement.”

Pablo Enriquez

Pablo Enriquez

MoMA PS1 Director Klaus Biesenbach said in a press release that he asked Grosse to create a requiem for the building after seeing her work in 2008, when she painted an abandoned house that was condemned after Hurricane Katrina. “I was deeply moved that a building just waiting to be taken down was given this temporary, proud, and fragile beauty,” Biesenbach said. “When I heard that the aquatics building in Fort Tilden was to be demolished following Hurricane Sandy, I immediately wanted to invite Katharina to do a project at the site.”

German artist Katharina Grosse spray painted a soon-to-be-demolished house that became a ruin in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy for MoMA PS1’s Rockaway! series.

Pablo Enriquez

Pablo Enriquez

Visitors can pay their respects until Nov. 30.