Martin Creed EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT

At the heart of Times Square on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, a massive red neon sign bears the disconcertingly familiar phrase, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT. This almost reassuring slogan, perfectly sited amid the constant construction and new development of Times Square, is crafted by Martin Creed (b. 1968, Wakefield, England). Creed’s 40-foot-long, 2-foot-tall, inescapably bright sign poignantly speaks to the dawn of the millennium, taking on myriad meanings at this crossroads in time amid the perpetual change of New York’s landscape.

Mounted on the facade of a new hotel development by Forest City Ratner Companies, this addition to the cacophony of advertising and digital imagery provides a subtle moment of calm amidst the chaos of the busiest intersection in the world. Despite its bright, neon composition, Creed’s Bruce Nauman–meets–Bob Marley hybrid seems incongruous with its surroundings. EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT is a strangely familiar phrase that might be uttered by your mother, most certainly after something in life has already gone wrong, as a hopeful assurance that things will turn out for the best in the end. After the Y2K hype, Creed’s EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT provides a much-needed moment of reflection. The project, seen in London earlier, seems to have a hopeful message, but also suggests the challenges ahead.