CITY DRAWINGS 2004

New York Drawings “THE CITY” Beneath the bricks and bones lays a hidden world of lives lived, loved, lost, and found. Forgotten stories, present circumstances and future consequences are all stacked and sealed within the concrete walls. The towering skyscrapers bare telepathic faces conceived and personified by the endless occurrences taking place inside. Constructed around enormous skeletal frames the monstrous metropolis breaths, grows, decays and regenerates reflectively similar of the denizens inhabiting it’s torso. Inspired by the majesty of Manhattan, these heavy black ink drawings simultaneously rejoice and condemn the nature of urban existence.

I started creating this series of ink on paper drawings following my first trip to New York. What impressed me most about the experience was the congruent sense of historical and contemporary excitement. At once the city appears timelessly classic, as though it still existed in an old film noir, and excessively modern, crowded with video screens, politics and commercialization.

When I looked up at the famous architecture I couldn’t help but feel haunted by the infinite amounts of people that must have passed through all the rooms. How many stories, events, routines and surprises have happened here? The artwork expresses these sensations through the personification of the enormous concrete structures. Using skeleton symbols, inspired by celebratory carnival imagery, and oddly humanistic arrangements of the windows and skylines, the work combines the inhuman stone textures with the human consciousness that created them.

The entire collection of pen and ink artwork consisted of 40 poster sized drawings, 3 larger illustrations and 2 mural works. The smaller works were based entirely on imaginative recollections while the larger works depicted actual buildings from the city of Manhattan including landmarks such as the Chrysler and The Empire State buildings.

The 2 mural sized drawings were also based on the city and featured a full skyline view of Manhattan and a cartoon version of the Brooklyn Bridge. It is of interest to note that the full skyline was based on a photograph from the 1920’s and included two towering black stains in place of the World Trade Center.  The “The City” drawings were exhibited at the O.C.A.D.U. Atrium Gallery in Jan 2005  the large murals were featured in the Cambridge Galleries HEY APATHY! Retrospective Show in 2006

 New York Drawings Exhibition  Showcase of these  Ink Drawings at O.C.A.D. Gallery

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