Barbara Madsen's 'Plastic Age' Installation Transforms New York Public Library with Banners and Sculptures

Barbara Madsen's exhibition 'Plastic Age: Further Removed' occupies all three exhibition spaces at the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. The multimedia artist, also a Rutgers professor, created large translucent banners for the library's windows that engage with the cityscape. These banners feature blown-up photographs of vivid plastic objects, appearing iconographic and monumental while lacking advertising text. Madsen designed site-specific modular sculptures responding to the library's architecture, inspired by Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau (1923–48) and incorporating visual puns, including a periscope mocking a surveillance camera. The installation includes vitrines dedicated to her collaboration with Venezuelan poet Ely Rosa Zamora, resulting in the book 'The Unspecific Object,' which playfully references Donald Judd's 1965 essay 'Specific Objects.' Photographs in the Pictures Collection conflate interior and exterior spaces, creating psychological landscapes. Madsen's work connects to artists like Frank Stella and Nancy Graves, exploring color and spatial disruption. The title 'Plastic Age' humorously references historical eras while critiquing post-World War II plastic consumption, inspired by 1950s Monsanto ads found in the library's collection. Street artist Neanderthalogical tagged one sculpture, visible from outside. Madsen avoids didactic criticism, aiming instead to engage viewers through close looking rather than angry diatribes.