CJ Hendry’s Flower Market Blooms at Rockefeller Center
This September, New York’s Rockefeller Center will unfurl into a garden of imagination. For three days only, from September 19–21, artist CJ Hendry brings her wildly popular Flower Market back to life — this time bigger, brighter, and in full bloom at the very heart of Manhattan.
Hendry, celebrated for her hyperrealist drawings and installations that turn the everyday into dazzling shared spectacles, has a knack for transforming the ordinary into something extraordinary. Last year’s Flower Market began modestly on Roosevelt Island, only to cause such a frenzy it was relocated to Industry City. This time, she has chosen Rockefeller Center, the very stage where art, commerce, and city life collide, as the perfect canvas.
A bouquet of CJ Hendry plush flowers.
At the heart of the installation lies Hendry’s signature twist: 27 brand-new plush flower designs, offered freely to visitors — one per person — turning the act of receiving a bloom into a citywide gesture of joy. Additional flowers are just $5, keeping the experience democratic, tactile, and irresistible. A coveted 28th design is available only to those who ascend the Top of the Rock, a clever marriage of New York’s most iconic view with Hendry’s plush fantasia.
Browsing the 2024 flower market on Roosevelt Island.
The flowers themselves are works of craft as much as concept. Each one is made from custom-dyed fabric, stitched together using a combination of machine and handmade techniques. The result is a collection that balances precision with personality — every bloom a soft, touchable sculpture that brings fabric and colour into exuberant play.
Thousands of flowers on display at the 2024 Flower Market
But this is more than a flower stall. The market spills into gallery territory, presenting Hendry’s original artworks, editioned floral wall sculptures, and a collection of limited-edition merchandise — totes, caps, tees — that extends the bloom into wearable keepsakes. Even the plaza itself transforms, dotted with flower carts and humming with energy from dawn until dusk.
Adding to the delight, Hendry has invited Space Club — a Brooklyn-born “sensory playground”— to make its Manhattan debut on September 20. This family-friendly activation is a celebration of touch, play, and creativity, making the Flower Market not just a feast for the eyes but a gathering place for all ages.
Making floral selections at the 2024 Flower Market on Roosevelt Island
Hendry’s work thrives on collapsing the boundaries between art and audience. The plush flowers, soft to the touch and impossible not to clutch, embody her ethos: art should be held, shared, lived with. The Flower Market is not a hushed white cube but a riot of colour and generosity, where participation is the medium.
In a city that rarely pauses, Hendry gifts New Yorkers a chance to stop, smile, and carry away a flower — proof that joy, like art, blooms brightest when shared.
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Lead: CJ Hendry's Plush Flowers, arranged as a bouquet.
All images courtesy of CJ Hendry.