New York artist's fabric 'Rapunzel' flows down side of Missoula Mercantile

As they walked the sidewalks of downtown Missoula on Friday, passers-by craned their necks to look around the corner of the Missoula Mercantile building.

Something was different: The normal brickwork was covered in a brightly colored patchwork of cloth that cascaded down the wall.

Lying on his stomach, Brandon Reintjes slowly fed the 45-foot-long stretch of fabric from the corner of the rooftop of the Mercantile until it pooled on the sidewalk below.

It kind of overwhelms the senses. It has the ability to just really interrupt your routine, said Reintjes, curator of art for the Montana Museum of Art and Culture at the University of Montana.

The piece, titled Rapunzel, is by New York artist and Missoula native Amanda Browder. While it was thin at the top, where Reintjes used metal wiring to secure it to anchor points, the installation widened toward its base.

After hanging the piece, Reintjes spent the rest of the afternoon at the base, handing out information about the opening of a broader exhibition of Browders work on the UM campus.

We cant leave it, people could pull on it or try to climb up Rapunzels hair, he said.

Rapunzel was up for only a few hours for First Friday before the MMAC took down the installation and carefully packed it away. Because they are made of fabric, Reintjes said, soft sculptures are fragile and cant be left outdoors for long periods of time.

Amanda generally shows them for short periods of time at her installations around the country, he said.

The exhibition at the MMAC, called End of the Infinite, will run from Oct. 16 to Jan. 10, 2015. On the first and last days of the installation, two of Browders large-scale pieces will be hung over the PAR-TV building on the UM campus, weather permitting.

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New York artist's fabric 'Rapunzel' flows down side of Missoula Mercantile