Talk of Towers

Acrylic and collage on canvas, 60” x 80”, 2001-2

Along with Unfinished Business, this painting was created in the days following 9/11 in NYC. Having just moved to Greenpoint from lower Manhattan (the apartment was located just under the shadow of the WTC), I was fortunate to be living out of that immediate area. Even so, everything about this catastrophic event permeated every corner of the city; the feeling of helplessness and loss, bewilderment and fear. I created this piece after seeing the fire in the South Tower on my way to work in Chelsea that pristine morning, and witnessing the subsequent fall of both. I often use ephemera as a background before I start painting. In this case, I used subway maps with some routes and stations that would now be forever changed. The WTC was marked with a red dot which can be seen through certain areas of translucence in the paint. With my usual cell “language” I developed in my work, I modified it with a star to mark some nuclei to convey the rise in patriotism felt everywhere. When you look at the piece as a whole, you can make out the faint division of three columns; on either end, the two Towers, and the ghost-like negative space centered in between.