Cj Hendry opened Flower Market at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park on September 13, 2024. Created with Clé de Peau Beauté and the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy, the project placed 100,000 fabric flowers inside a temporary greenhouse. Demand closed the Roosevelt Island site, and the final day moved to Industry City in Brooklyn.
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Photo Gallery: Inside Cj Hendry's Flower Market
What to Know
A Greenhouse of Fabric
The 120-by-40-foot structure held 100,000 plush flowers in 21 varieties. Sunflowers, roses, daffodils, tulips, peonies, and other familiar forms were rebuilt in soft fabric and arranged in dense color fields.
Art Visitors Could Take
Admission was free, and each visitor could select one flower without charge. Additional flowers cost $5 and were wrapped in paper like purchases from a traditional florist, making the installation change as people carried pieces away.
Roosevelt History Shaped It
The flower selection referenced the park and Roosevelt family. Yellow Eleanor Roosevelt roses, Dutch tulips, red roses, and peonies connected the project to family history and the landscape around Louis Kahn's memorial.
Twelve Drawings Joined the Field
Hendry presented 12 original botanical drawings beside the plush installation. The works extended her hyperreal drawing practice into the same flower species that filled the greenhouse.
A Beauty Collaboration
Clé de Peau Beauté supported the project, and the Radiant Lily connected the flower field with the brand's The Serum. The collaboration placed a product-inspired botanical inside a much larger public artwork.
Demand Forced a Move
Large crowds overwhelmed the Roosevelt Island site. Authorities closed the park installation, and Hendry's team moved the final day to Industry City, where the flowers were reset inside a large industrial hall.
Participation Defined the Work
Flower Market depended on visitors touching, choosing, arranging, and carrying its elements into the city. The project's official archive describes that participation as central to its changing form.