The National Gallery of Canada Thursday unveiled two new attractions for fall, One Hundred Foot Line, an outdoor sculpture by contemporary American artist Roxy Paine, and an exhibit of 50 works by Canada’s Carl Beam on canvas, ceramic, video and more.
One Hundred Foot Line, a 30.5-metre-high branchless tree composed of stainless steel pipes, is from a series of works Paine calls Dendroids. The National Gallery purchased it earlier this year and decided to place it behind the gallery on Nepean Point, a park owned by the National Capital Commission, which collaborated on the installation.
“I haven’t been able to take my eyes off it since I’ve arrived,” said NCC chair Marie Lemay of the sculpture. “I’ve seen it touching the clouds and now I see it shining just on beautiful blue background. It is breathtaking.”
Beam, a First Nations artist who died in 2005, is credited with helping to combine an Anishinaabe aesthetic with contemporary art.
“He was both an intellectual and a philosophical bridge-builder between different cultures,” said NGC director Marc Mayer.