Exhibitions: Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition

Ame Curtiss. Greenpoint Ruins 1, 2007. All rights reserved

Artist Statement

It is clear that American cities are in the midst of massive change. There is a new architectural and cultural development that is quickly replacing the buildings and heritage of the industrial past. There is a new type of city enveloping the old. This new city is devoid of character and disregards the raw beauty of the past. In spite of its rich urban density, Brooklyn is not exempt from this incidence. In the onslaught of new urban development and remorseless greed that prevailes in our society, places of distinct character and value are destroyed.

14 Comments

i like how the building department signage on the construction site mirrors the windows in the ruined structure behind it.

This is a somewhat harsh assessment. I agree that not always the best choices are made with development and the culture and community feelings are not taken into consideration, but there are some who TRY to be thoughtful about the development they are doing. I witnessed this in downtown Brooklyn right off of Smith street with these modern remixes of Brownstones, it was very respectful of the neighborhood around it, but giving something new and fresh.

These ruins look like something from Ancient Rome. The yellow-orange light really adds to the sandstone effect. The red lights on the bridge far in the distance on the left jar you back to the recognition that this is the modern world.

The foreground is distracting.

Beautifully captured the essence of ruins. For a moment, it reminded me of the ruins in Peru.

It looks more like a bombed ruin than one under demolition. I like the bridge peeping through in the background.

this looks like a composited or severely photoshoped image.

Jeez. Is that Brooklyn? Wow powerful piece. I am in awe.

again, something apocalyptic in this area that is undergoing gentrification--it's like there's something hidden beneath the new homogenous facades

actually this is a picture taken of the alamo on loan to the brooklyn museum of art for three months

Dislike color processing. Makes it look very cliche when the underlying photo itself has wonderful compostion and content

Visually stunning. Looks like a bombed city until you notice the bridge...

Absolutely other wordly. A friend who lived in Greenpoint can not even figure out where this is. I get a feeling of detachment, as if this were a rendering of some other world who's forgotten its own cultural asthetic values. It is a phenomanl portyal of what I beleive the artist was aiming for. Mad props, and skilz here! — Posted by Jayson Messick

Very Spanish, spanish painting I mean. Let's make NY look like an interesting European city, sort of thing. — Posted by Kevin Z. Moore