Along the Hudson River…

One of my favorite things about my first visit to the High Line last year was the artwork shown to the left – “Autumn on the Hudson Valley With Branches,” by Valerie Hegarty. (You can click the image to the left to see it in a larger size.) The work was a combination of different things – part painting, part real tree, part fake tree – and was hung on a fence, surrounded by an assortment of plants which had either grown or been planted there. (There are places at the High Line where it’s obvious that the plants have been added by landscaping, but in other spots, you can’t be too sure.) The canvas for the painted portion looked like a torn, throwaway tarp, and must have been waterproof to protect it from the elements. The style of the painted portion recalled the types of landscapes seen in works by the mid-19th century school of American painters known as the Hudson River School. This connection is both appropriate and witty because of the High Line’s close proximity to the Hudson River. The Hudson River School idealized nature, and it’s interesting to think of this idealization of nature (with its implicit criticism of civilized settlement) in contrast to the subsequent commercial and industrial development along the river, which includes the commercial activity the High Line was associated with for much of the 20th century. Nature has returned to the High Line, but with an irony which Rem Koolhaas would appreciate.  The restoration is more planned than natural, and seems partially intended to bring landscaped recreation to its visitors in much the same way that Central Park was intended to do for New Yorkers of the mid-19th century. With real nature no longer available, the best we may be able to hope for is the Irresistible Synthetic – in these cases, a succession of nature-based urban theme parks. A write-up on Hegarty’s work can be seen on the High Line website here.