Eighth Avenue and Central Park by Joseph O. Holmes
Every picture tells a story, true. But Eighth Avenue and Central Park, the 23rd and 24th 20x200 editions (!!!) by chronicler-of-NYC Joseph O. Holmes, have an especially intriguing genesis. We might never see the likes of them again, so read on for the back story of how they came to be. Keep reading.
Prints of these editions begin at $60.
Tenth Avenue and 22nd Street and Cranberry and Henry, Brooklyn Heights by Jorge Colombo
“For years and years I have prowled cities for moments such as these,” says artist Jorge Colombo of his distinctive cityscapes. He created these beloved images—Tenth Avenue and 22nd Street graced the cover of the New Yorker—using an iPhone. See more of his work.
prettymaps (la), prettymaps (chicago) and prettymaps (nyc) by Aaron Straup Cope, a few of the prints included in our Art for Armchair Explorers Gift Guide
“I’d like to generate map tiles that give you that same dizzy feeling you get when you look down at a city at night, from an airplane. We’ve spent so long fussing over the relentless details in cartography that we’ve sort of forgotten what things (should) look like at a distance.”—Aaron Straup Cope
What do you give an armchair explorer? If you’re wondering what to get for the person on your list who loves outer space, the sun, the moon, the stars, maps of the earth from above (Google and open source), and gathering facts for the pleasure of it, then this gift guide is for you.
A reflection in the window of the Staten Island ferry of the city’s new skyline, 2002, by Eugene Richards
Eugene Richards is a photographer, writer and documentary filmmaker who for 40 years has chronicled the social, emotional and economic landscape of America. His poignant depiction of New York City’s post-9/11 skyline is part of Art for Sandy Relief is a collaboration by 20x200 and TIME’s photo editors to bring aid to those affected by Sandy. All net proceeds from the 12 prints in this series go to 6 local organizations working directly to help Sandy survivors.
Richards discusses how he discovered this shot in a moving artist statement:
“Like many photographers after 9/11, I struggled to come to terms with the devastation of the attacks on the World Trade Center. As the months passed, I journeyed with my wife, Janine, from our Brooklyn home to the fenced-in site known as Ground Zero that had been largely dealt with as a crime scene, as a horror and, most disturbingly, as a tourist attraction. But we came to view Ground Zero as an ever-evolving repository for the missing, for remembering, for self-examination.
“On a freezing winter day in early 2002, I took the Staten Island ferry toward Manhattan, dismayed, as ever, at how much the city had changed. I tried to make a picture of the skyline, but couldn’t, since the only thing I saw was the void left by the terrorist attacks. Then I turned to peer inside the ferry that was filled with passengers looking out. It was then that I noticed the reflection, a kind of ghostly image, one that had me imagining, with its tower-like shafts of light, that this was our city as it once was.”
Find the print.
Man With Boom Box, Staten Island by Christine Osinski
After losing her Manhattan loft during the real estate boom of the early 1980s, photographer Christine Osinski moved from lower Manhattan to the “forgotten borough” of Staten Island.
“The Island was a goldmine for pictures. Everything seemed interesting,” she has said. Osinski spent a chunk of the 1980s creating black-and-white images that pop with the personality of the borough that welcomed Osinski and her camera. “Mostly I went out walking for long periods of time. When I began photographing the people were very small in the landscape, but eventually I moved closer and they became the primary focus of my photographs. There were a lot of people outside, people having block parties, at parades and kids hanging out. People were very curious and having the 4x5 camera on a tripod helped me. It was just nice being outside and meeting people. You just never knew what was going to happen. It was an adventure.”
Osinski’s image is part of Art for Sandy Relief, a collaboration by 20x200 and TIME’s photo editors to bring aid to those affected by Sandy. All net proceeds from the 12 prints in this series go to 6 local organizations working directly to help Sandy survivors. Get this print.
Charlie Looking Out the Window of the Statue of Liberty Ferry February 1985 by Camilo José Vergara
Camilo José Vergara’s career began in 1965 when a professor lent him $170 to buy his first camera, a Pentax Spotmatic. Leaving his native Chile for college in Indiana, Vergara discovered the thrill of street photography.
Charlie Looking Out the Window of the Statue of Liberty Ferry February 1985 is an unusual meeting of the personal and the public—it is a portrait of Vergara’s son enjoying a family day out, looking out onto what is now the most loaded section of New York’s storied skyline. Vergara’s subject is rarely himself or his family. As always, though, his focus is on the “built environment” as a reflection of urban life. Vergara, here, is telling this story through New York’s urbanscape.
This image is part of Art for Sandy Relief, a collaboration by 20x200 and TIME’s photo editors. All net proceeds from the 12 prints in this series go to 6 local organizations working directly to help Sandy survivors. Get this work.
68 Chevelle, Raptor Point, Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway, 2009 by Laura McPhee
“Capturing the haunting neglect and immense potential of Gateway’s landscape of fields, marshes, structures, beaches, activities and historic relics, Laura McPhee’s photographs—taken over the course of one year with a large-format view camera of 19th-century design—portray eras past while simultaneously transporting viewers to a future not yet defined.” —The Editors, Gateway: Visions for an Urban National Park
Part of our Art for Sandy Relief series, released in collaboration with TIME’s photo editors, all net proceeds from this print will go to six outstanding local organizations that have been working directly aid Sandy survivors. Learn more.
Find more on Gateway National Recreation Area, recovering from Sandy.
Cuchifrito Vista Alegre by Arlene Gottfried
Arlene Gottfried is a celebrated photographer whose work has achieved national and international acclaim. This image is part of our Art for Sandy Relief project, released in collaboration with TIME’s photo editors. All net proceeds of these prints support six local organizations working directly on the ground to aid recovery efforts.
Learn more.
In September 2006, 20x200 artist and Hot Shot Joseph O. Holmes spent 10 days shooting the interior of legendary NYC rock club CBGB. Six weeks later the club closed its doors forever, and the fabled walls and stage were dismantled. A year after that, as former owner Hilly Kristal succumbed to cancer, a high-end clothing store negotiated to take over the space.
Holmes describes his experience:
“The club had been a favorite venue for countless rock and punk acts, but for those few days my experience of the club was the exact opposite of most people’s. I came to look forward to my visits as a time of peaceful solitude. I arrived each morning at 11:00 with my tripod and camera, greeted Hilly at his desk, and then passed into a silent and empty club. During the following three to five hours of shooting, I rarely saw another human. The club was so dark, even during the day, that I had to carry a flashlight. After framing each shot, I took five to seven bracketed exposures, with each exposure lasting as long as 30 seconds, and I ended up with more than 1800 individual frames.
“And that’s how I came to spend hour after hour sitting stock still in CBGB, alone in the dark among the empty beer bottles and broken guitar strings and abandoned drum sticks, waiting in the silence for the shutter to close.”
From top to bottom, all photographs by Holmes:
CBGB (Stage)
CBGB (Pipes)
CBGB (Mixing Board and Bench)
CBGB (Register)
New York City has held rank as one of the world’s greatest seaports. Incredible ships passed through its harbor, and Theoline, a wooden-hulled four-masted schooner, made Pier 11 her home port whenever she docked in New York. Theoline has the distinction of being the last of the old coastal cargo ships to unload at the South Street Seaport, and celebrated photographer Berenice Abbott was there on April 9, 1936, to document the occasion.
We’re so grateful to everyone who purchased NYC-centric works during last week’s Sandy benefit sale. It is our pleasure to report that we raised nearly $6,500 for Citymeals-On-Wheels! Thank you.
