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Downtown Rising
I have been painting the downtown skyline view of the World Trade Center from my Tribeca studio window as part of my practice for the last decade. Downtown Rising is a new cycle of watercolor paintings bringing continued contemplation to the changing skyline and streetscapes of Lower Manhattan.
The rebuilding of downtown serves as a metaphor for the evolution of the city as it recovers from the infusion of horror into its body politic.This void at Ground Zero has generated a power with its absence and negative forms as forceful as the Towers did before. Those who continue to live and work under the empty sky never forget that day. But now, the skyline is morphing again with the raising of the first tower to replace Seven World Trade Center.
Ground Zero has become a focus and opportunity for those ready to look to the future. But what type of place is this now? It is certainly more than a construction site. The bedrock below is sanctified by loss as the steel skeleton rise above. Flags and security barriers have transformed the quiet downtown streets as cranes gesture skyward.
The Downtown Rising watercolors were made from the fringe of the hole. Their creation in the studio is a reflection of each of our struggle to come to terms with loss and resurrection.
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