Photo: Tom Hennes, Thinc Design.

When you walk into the Park Avenue Armory over the next two days you are likely to gasp at your first glimpse of  Infinite Variety: 3 Centuries of Red and White Quilts, 651 American quilts on loan from collector Joanna S. Rose. Suspended invisibly from the 8 story high ceiling of the 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall, the quilts hang in three tiers, back to back, arranged in 13 round “pavilions.” From any vantage point, the entire collection may be seen at once. At the center of the hall, directly opposite the entrance, eight chairs sit in a polite circle, evoking a quilting bee, as a tornado of quilts spirals upwards directly above them. The effect calls to mind a Harold Edgerton strobe photograph of playing cards tossed up and frozen in mid-air. In the fairly dark room, the dramatically illuminated quilts have a commanding presence. The collection’s unified color scheme and dazzling array of patterns inspires feelings of awe and even evokes the sublime. Sponsored by the American Folk Art Museum, the show will be on display until March 30.

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