Public art rocks Rockaway Beach this summer

If you’re a fan of public art, you might want to take the Ramones’ advice and hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach over July 4th weekend. That’s when MoMA PS1 will unveil an outdoor installation by Berlin artist, Katharina Grosse. The latest in a series of projects that have been mounted in the area by MoMA PS1 since Hurricane Sandy, the piece (titled, appropriately enough, Rockaway!) will transform Ft. Tilden's decaying aquatics building into a sort of three-dimensional painting—a trademark of an artist best described as an abstract illusionist who spray-paints physical structures to make them look like flattened compositions. Grosse will do likewise with Rockaway! by spritzing liberal amounts of purple, orange and red on the building and its surroundings, making them seem to disappear in a burst of fireworks. It’s an arty way to mark Independence Day, but if you can’t make it out there this summer, don’t sweat; Rockaway! will be on view until Thanksgiving.