Pathways and Shadows

Solo exhibition at The Hendrick I. Lott House, Brooklyn, NY, opening May 4, 2024 (RSVP)

Exhibition Statements

Statement (condensed)

In my recent paintings, videos, drawings and photographs, I reference the natural and constructed habitats of New York City, especially its beaches and parks, by taking close up photographs of my everyday surroundings. I work between media, often including personal photographs, videos and sound recordings to create abstract imagery in paint or pencil, then use those works to create photo-based digital works. I want to capture the elusive elements of my surroundings, the movement and pulse of the city and of the ocean, which are constantly in flux. These explorations of form, structure and movement are deeply personal. I seek to connect with something larger than myself by creating abstract imagery and sharing it with the Marine Park community.

Artist Statement (full)

When I began spending more time in Marine Park in 2020, I immediately realized how special the park and the salt marshes are to the people who live here. Somewhat isolated from the rest of the city geographically, Marine Park and New York City’s southernmost parts have a quietness that is distinct from the rest of the city. 

I had come to the park often as a child, but it had been years since I had explored it, and was my first time doing so as an adult. At first, I walked the trails looking for exercise, an escape from long work days at the computer. It quickly became clear that the park would be a source of inspiration for my art. Each time I walked through the park’s trails with my camera, it felt completely different. There have been days where I have seen a family of pheasants roaming the trails as if they weren’t in the center of a major metropolis, but instead a secluded sanctuary all their own. Other times, I have seen swarms of tiny crabs scurrying toward the shore, or an egret keeping watch over the marshes. Next time you are there, take a moment to savor the strangeness of standing in the center of the marshes, surrounded in all directions by reeds as far as the eye could see, yet hearing the buzz of city sounds so clearly – sirens, car horns, traffic moving along on the Belt Parkway. 

Pathways and Shadows consists of prints of my Pathways drawings, installed on the East 36th Street fences, and Shadows digital collages inspired by these drawings on the East 35th Street fences. Sometimes when I work, one artwork becomes the material I use to make the next one, instead of starting each artwork over from scratch. So once I have a handful of finished drawings, I take photographs of them. Then I bring these photographs into Photoshop and layer them, altering their opacity, saturation and color to make a digital collage. These make up my Shadows series, nine of which are installed on the East 35th Street fence as large-scale prints on vinyl.

Walking is a central component of my work, and the starting point for my drawings. Like many New Yorkers, walking is one of my preferred ways to navigate the city. But aside from the practical function of walking, I take long walks for creative inspiration. Walking makes it feel like time is slowing down – sure, it is possible to zip around much more quickly and efficiently on a train, bus, or bicycle, or in the car, but like many others who live in our city, I spend enough time in transit to get to work and to run errands. Walking time is sacred time. My long walks, alone or with loved ones, are a way to relax so that I can notice more. 

Many of my drawings are based on what I see during these types of walks. I often pause to take photographs and videos, especially when I see movement happening in nature in interesting ways. Then, I bring these photos and videos back to my studio and look closely at them, searching for shapes, rhythms, and colors that feel active and lively. By now, I have a catalog of images that I can pull from for inspiration. From there, I make my drawings, which then become inspiration for digital collages.

The people who live here work hard, often commuting an hour or more to the city, dealing with traffic, tolls, and long, crowded subway rides. The subway isn’t kind to outer-borough commuters traveling long distances. A commuter’s day stops for an hour or more in the morning then again in the afternoon or evening, as they work hard to get back home. Living in New York City can be stressful.  The work in this exhibition aims to show our parks as a refuge. If I can show you our beloved park from a new perspective, my hope is that I can invite you along to make your own creative responses to it,  and to be inspired by our natural surroundings and the strength of our neighborhoods. 

Marine Park, along with the other southernmost points of New York City, such as the Rockaways and Coney Island, feel in some ways like shadows of the rest of the city. This area, and others like it, are far from the center of the city, yet our outer-borough neighborhoods pulse with their own vitality, and are in many ways the city’s core. Upon learning that the Lott family’s property originally stretched all the way to where the park lies today, it felt especially relevant to display works here that are heavily based on the natural landscape near the water.

Nature is filled with things that are hard to understand, or are hardly understood scientifically. We don’t have any idea what happens to our consciousness when our bodies die, or to that of a plant when it dies. Aren’t the molecules of each drop of water that nourish coastal plants just as alive as the plants themselves, an energetic pulse running through them just like the one that animates and motivates the people who live in the city? If we could surrender to that, and look at nature and our city with awe and respect, maybe we could open ourselves up to the mystery of it all. 

This exhibition is as much about Marine Park and the individuals who live here as it is about the art itself. I want people to see that they can look closely at our surroundings and find peace in what they see. My hope is that this exhibition adds value to your experience of Marine Park, whether you have been here for a lifetime or, like me, have just arrived.

Installation Images (Coming Soon)

This section will show images of the exhibition installed on site at The Lott House, opening May 4. Reproductions of my palm-sized abstract pencil drawings, printed on rigid board, will be displayed on the East 36th Street fence. The drawings are largely inspired by the natural landscape of Marine Park. The East 35th Street fence will contain large vinyl prints of my photo-based digital collages, which are based on the pencil drawings on the opposite fence.

Workshop Images

Here are images from the series of workshops I am teaching at the Lott House in conjunction with the exhibition. The workshops focus on ways of creating abstract imagery inspired by our natural surroundings.

This exhibition is presented with Friends of the Lott House, the non-profit organization that preserves and maintains the house and the objects in its collection. The Hendrick I. Lott House is a New York City designated landmark and is included in the National Register of Historic Places. The house includes sections that date back as far as 1720, and it is one of the oldest houses in New York City. Learn more about The Lott House at www.lotthouse.org.