Triptychs & Polyptychs
(multipanel paintings)
When I was in my 20s, I took a dozen or so snapshots of the Lower East Side with my point and shoot Brownie camera. I was doing some street scenes (my Social Realist period) and needed reference material. I admired the work of Ben Shahn but never thought I could come anywhere near his level of technical skill. Little did I know that he worked from photos all the time.
These photos show a visual bazaar of storefronts, bridges, elevated trains and most of all colorful characters. These were painted in 2012, abstractions derived from photos I had taken in the early '50s of the Lower East Side before it became gentrified (and boring.) The panels are 68” tall and are grouped in two series of four.
At the time I painted this, I was teaching art history at the University of Connecticut in Stamford. I travelled the world through slides. The images eventually found their way into giant multi-paneled paintings.
Here I am at the "Loft Artists: Then & Now - 40 years of Art" exhibit at the Stamford Museum.
