"Flight" Fright?

One of my favorite sculptures in Manhattan is "Flight" (right) by Richard Lippold. Located in the lobby of the MetLife building, this cat's cradle of a work was called "a complex construction of shimmering gilded wires" by Ken Johnson in The New York Times. Photos of the work are rare, due in part to the "no photo" policy in the building, but you can see it here and here. You might also recall that it was the subject of a Where Was I? on this very blog.

Anyway, "Flight" was recently under wraps due to some sort of constructiony work, so on Monday night I was glad to see that it's again visible—until I saw its damaged condition. At least one of the shimmering gilded wires seems to have snapped and curled (I believe this might've caused a kind of domino effect, throwing another part of the sculpture out of whack), and the work also seems to be in need of some basic maintenance, such as a good dusting.

I've already sent emails about this to the Municipal Art Society and Tishman Speyer. To date, I haven't heard back from either.

Photo: Special thanks to Carter B. Horsley of The City Review