Famous artist Dorothea Rockburne is worried about her artworks that could be soon trashed. The former Sony Building where her two famed murals are displayed is going to be converted into luxury condos.
Her two chaos-theory-inspired murals called "Northern Sky" and "Southern Sky" are displayed in the lobby of the building at 550 Madison Ave. The Chetrit Group, the current owner of the building, has yet to disclose their plans for the artworks. Chances are, Rockburne's art could soon be destroyed, according to The Real Deal.
"I'm heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken about it," Rockburne said. "It is a very major work."
Jonathan Chetrit, son of company head Joseph Chetrit, said they had been communicating with the artist. However, Rockburne said that the Chetrit Group has declined to say what is going to happen to her artwork since the property was sold to them two years ago.
The developers bought the property for $1.1 billion and are planning to convert the upper floors into condominiums. Rockburne is hoping that the developers would just donate her murals to a museum.
The New York Post wrote that Rockburne had a solo exhibition of her artworks at MoMA in 2013. She attended college with Cy Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg.
Connie Butler, head of the drawing department at MoMA during Rockburne's show, described her as "one of the most important artists to come out of the generation of late '60s and early '70s."
Butler added that destroying the artworks would be a terrible thing to do because the murals perfectly suited to the building.
Michael Schulhof, a former physicist and the former head of Sony, ordered the artworks. Rockburne worked for it every day for two years. "He understood the mathematics of my work," the artist said.
The artworks were painted on a 30 feet by 30 feet wallboard treated with a thin layer of plaster. Rockburne worked with a specially trained crew to paint the orange-hued conceptual works for eight weeks.
