On view
American, 1951
Rapunzel, 2024
Aluminum, stainless steel, paint
20 ft. x 11 ft. 5/8 in. x 8 ft. 13/16 in. (609.6 x 336.8 x 245.9 cm)
Courtesy of the Artist and Pace Gallery
Photo by David Schulze
At the edge of Museum Hill, the monumental Rapunzel swoops down from over twenty feet in the air, tracing a form similar to that of the ceramic Together: Rapunzel, the generative “seed” on view in the Museum Building. At the intimate scale of the ceramic, the curve of Rapunzel’s hair is a small gesture, while in the landscape the corresponding arc becomes large enough to sit on—something Shechet purposefully designed as an invitation to the viewer. Looking up from this vantage point, the large, thin sheets of Rapunzel’s metal twist against the sky. These constructed forms are fluid, organic in nature, and serve as a way for Shechet to invite the environment into her work. Shechet says, “the sculptures absorb and reflect the landscape in the simplest possible way from the surface, but also within the negative spaces. Looking up through Rapunzel, it feels like I’m looking through tree branches.”