This fall, Cj Hendry’s Flower Market brings a blend of performance, marketplace, and artwork to Rockefeller Center. Following last year’s viral debut, Flower Market is back, bigger, and bolder. This year’s edition will introduce 27 new plush flower designs, transforming Center Plaza into a whimsical garden where visitors can explore and shop their own bouquet. The installation reimagines a familiar symbol—the flower—through the vibrant hues and oversized forms that have defined her cjhendrystudio work.

For those looking to complete their full bouquet, a limited-edition 28th flower design will be available exclusively at Top of the Rock for pre-purchase online or in person at the box office while supplies last as an add-on to a General Admission, All-In Pass, or Express Pass ticket to the observation deck. Once you select the quantity, date, and time, you will be able to add the Top of the Rock Flower to your cart with your ticket.

For Hendry, this moment is more than just a milestone—it’s a punctuation mark in a creative journey spanning Brisbane, Australia, to New York and Las Vegas, defined by instinct, scale, and a refusal to put her work in any one box. From monochrome studies to large-scale installations that could fill a public pool, Hendry’s career reflects a playful, experimental spirit reminiscent of her early projects like Bargain Bodega. Her work often celebrates the unexpected—from luxury objects to a kitchen sink—turning everyday items into hyperrealistic marvels. Hendry’s art career and global perspective continue to inform installations that feel accessible, strange, and a little bit joyful.

The Center Magazine: What’s the first memory you have of flowers?

Cj Hendry: I feel like it probably is quite elementary and familiar—just picking flowers off the side of the streets or picking them from people’s gardens that you’re not meant to, probably as a young kid. Yeah. I think.

TCM: If you had to describe your relationship to flowers in one word… what would it be?

CH: Friendly.

TCM: Was there a conversation, a person, or even a past version of yourself you wish could’ve seen this?

CH: No, I feel like you’re just in the version that you’re in. Do you know what I mean? And you can always look to the past and the future, and it’s like past or the future. And that’s just backward thinking—or you spend too much time thinking about the future. You know, like you just are where you are. And this is just what’s happening, which is insane.

TCM: What’s the most surprising reaction you’ve seen so far from people walking through the market?

CH: What I like seeing, especially with Flower Market, is just the variation of so many different types of people—you’ve got older, you’ve got younger kids, every single type of person comes to Flower Market because it’s so familiar and approachable. The price point is not intimidating.Your first flower is free. And then every other flower is $5 after that. So you can come to flower market and not spend any money, but still walk away with a flower. That’s really special. So it’s kind of encouraging art to be approachable to truly everyone.

TCM: What’s one thing people always get wrong about flowers — or about your art?

CH: This is something I even got wrong about flowers. I just thought flowers were just very feminine and too simple of a concept to ever explore so many years ago. I would just never have drawn flowers. I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s perfect—that’s for basic pictures.’ Then I just slowly meandered into referencing flowers for drawings. Now we’re doing Flower Market. I just think I was so hesitant to do it because they were so obvious. So I think don’t be afraid of obvious. Just lean in. Flowers are flowers. They just are. People love them and just utilize them and make them different. So yeah, we just did flowers, but we made them plush. So yeah, just taking something familiar and fucking with it a bit.

TCM: What’s the real secret to making something at this scale — and staying sane?

CH: I'm not a sane person, nor do I even consider the idea of work-life balance. I feel like this is just like work-life harmony. I have three kids, we have a very full life, and it's just like this is just it. This is what I've been building. I've always had a big vision and a big appetite for building things. And this is just one thing that's happening along that vision.

TCM: How do you hope people will interact with the Flower Market at Rockefeller Center?

CH: When we build exhibitions, I never anticipate or encourage people to act and interact in a certain way. We just build a concept with my vision in mind and then how people interact with it is completely on them.

I think encouraging people to do things in a certain way is just like forcing something that may not feel right to them. So I just think people just come, they interact with the space as long as they want in any way that they choose and then that's their experience.

TCM: Do you see this installation as more of a performance, a marketplace, or a work of fine art—or a mix of all three?

CH: Definitely all three. I think putting anything, especially nowadays, into just one narrow area just doesn't speak to the type of artist I am and also the time that we're in. Back in the day, it's like you were just an artist, you were represented by a gallery or you were just this person or that person. Nowadays, it's like the world is so fluid in the way you can show your work.

TCM: What do you hope visitors take away from experiencing your Flower Market?

CH: I just hope they come through and experience it how they experience it. It's a very familiar concept, and I certainly know what we've built. Essentially, we are building an artificial environment. It's not reality, and I like when people kind of walk through this beautiful soft moment and have an alternate experience, and then you know, enter this alternate reality and then exit into real life.

So I think that's really an important moment to kind of feel something that's just strange and like, what the fuck? Why are there so many flowers? And why are they all fake? And it's just a fun, very childlike experience and then you exit back into real life.