Anthony Caro Sculptures at the MET Roof Garden

Visitors take in the unique Anthony Caro sculptures on the MET roof garden

For at least a decade now, one of our most-anticipated New York City springtime rituals has been to find a warm sunny afternoon, grab a friend or three, and head on over to the great and glorious MET Roof Garden to see the new sculptures/installations that'll be gracing the space all summer long. And while this year's edition, Anthony Caro on the Roof, lacks that site-specific specialness we've loved so much in recent seasons–think Roxy Paine's metal trees, or the Starn Twin's spectacular Big Bambu which literally grew there last summer–there is no denying that the Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden, with those lovely views out over Central Park, is one of our favorite warm-weather destinations in town. 

 

A bright yellow sculpture by Anthony Caro sits in front of the concrete walls on the MET roof garden

White triangulars Anthony Caro Sculptures are set in front of the bright blue sky on the MET Roof Garden

Anthony Caro on the Roof is basically a punchy retrospective of the sculptor's long, prolific and often playful career, with five large-scale pieces scattered over the Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden's 10,000-square-foot space. The chronological journey begins with Anthony Caro's bright yellow, 1960, Midday, sporting a fresh, shiny coat of paint, and calling to mind a piece of playground equipment. For monkeys, maybe. Also here is Caro's After Summer, from 1968, all white(ish) and winged and waddling its way across the Met's Roof Garden. 

A conglomeration of cylindrical and flat shapes in red by Anthony Caro a MET exhibit on the roof

 

Leaping ahead a couple of decades, Anthony Caro's sculpture, 1984 Odalisque–which, by the way, was part of the Met's first-ever Roof Garden exhibition, back in 1987–shows the artist losing some of his '60s-era grooviness for a more vaguely ominous aesthetic. This piece, dark and heavy, reminded us mostly of ship wrecks and other disasters. The tallest of Caro's works here is his screaming-red Blazon, dated "1987-1990", which stands some twelve feet high and, with its shelves and "seats" almost looks like some sort of overly-dramatic piece of furniture. Finally Anthony Caro on the Roof offers us the very recent End Up, completed in 2010 (when the artist was 87 years old!), a rusty cannon-like weapon of a piece, as if dredged up from the depths of some long-ago war. 

A square shaped form with a rusted, retro feel - a woman in the background sits and reads on the MET roof garden

Anthony Caro on the Roof at the Met Details 

Anthony Caro on the Roof will be on view until October 30, 2011, weather permitting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Thursday, and Sunday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The museum is located on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street. As always, the price of admission to the Met is "suggested." For more information about the Anthony Caro exhibition specifically or the Met in general, please see the museum's website

The view of NYC skyscrapers and trees on top of Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden

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