On Monday, May 6th, seminal land art artist Peter Hutchinson completed his largest Thrown Rope installation for ARTLANTIC, located in Atlantic City. Belonging in the canon of modern art alongside Richard Long and Robert Smithson, Hutchinson’s Thrown Ropes are the product literally throwing ropes over an expanse of land, then placing boulders or planting flowers and hedges along the lines deter-mined by the ropes, resulting into a snakelike garden.
 
“This 83 year old artist threw his rope with such grace and physicality I could only imagine Jackson Pollack throwing his paint,” said Curator Lance Fung.  Fung also recalls his first meeting with Hutchinson in the 90's to include him in a group show for the Holly Solomon Gallery.  Later, Fung exhibited a solo show of Hutchinson as the second to the last exhibition at his gallery before its closing followed by a solo exhibition by Robert Morris.  Fung said, “It was an honor to be able to work with Peter again and to facilitate such an art historical work like this.  I never imagined how beautiful it was in its simplicity and how well it related to the other works in space by Robert Barry, the Kabakovs and Kiki Smith!”



At the beginning of Hutchinson’s inclusion of ARTLANTIC, he revealed for the first time that the Thrown Ropes were a memorial to his brother who passed away when he was child. Hutchinson said, "I have decided to relate something that I have never said before about my thrown ropes. I lost my brother Donovan who drowned in the North Sea at the age of sixteen, I was 9. The ropes, I realized were lifelines, and the finished works a memorial to him." 
 
At a private happening, artist, critics, curators all watched for the first time as Hutchinson in a small performance change the landscaping of the first art park in Atlantic City by altering it with organic and inorganic materials through his largest Thrown Rope piece to date.  This will be his only installation currently on view in the United States.  
 


ARTLANTIC is a series of temporary art exhibitions that utilizes vacant spaces. For this 5-year exhibition series, curator Lance Fung will bring together international artists to foster art in unique environments. Beginning in 2012, Robert Barry’s illuminated words were embedded in large earthen mounds, Kiki Smith’s red garden blooms around a charcoal bronze sculpture titled Her and Ilya and Emilia Kabakov's excavated pirate ship The Devil’s Rage encourages play on a 7 acre city block. On a second site down the Boardwalk, John Roloff’s Étude Atlantis continue to draw in passersby with its bold stripes and free Wi-Fi.

     

In June, Robert Lach will install Refuge Nest Colony a series of glowing fiberglass nests cast from found objects. Jedediah Morfit will install The Flood Suite a collection of garden furniture embedded with imagery from Atlantic City life and a stunning gate depicting a woman emerging out of a petty-coat woven out of branches and woodland animals titled Mama's In the Arbor to welcome visitors off the street.

ARTLANTIC is free and open to the public 7 days a week. Free-guided tours are also available for schools and non-profit organizations. We hope to see you here in Atlantic City's first art park.
 
For more information and to see more images of the installation click here.