Skip Navigation

Gowanus Canal from 2nd Street

Randy Dudley

Contemporary Art

Gowanus Canal from 2nd Street is a meticulously executed image of an old Brooklyn industrial waterway. Amid the abundant vegetation, figures equipped with long poles search for something in the murky water. The large warehouse in the middle of this carefully balance composition seems to be abandoned. Car tires, wrecked buses, and cars on the right slowly change into the jagged outline of a cityscape in the background. The canal's still waters are embellished by the reflections of its environs. There is an inherent beauty in this melancholic scene. We begin to understand the attraction this human-made waterway has for Brooklyn residents. At present, the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal and plans for its recreational use are under way.

MEDIUM Oil on canvas
DATES 1986
DIMENSIONS 34 x 63 5/8 in. (86.4 x 161.6 cm) frame: 34 1/8 x 63 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (86.7 x 161.3 x 6.4 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 87.31
CREDIT LINE Purchase gift of Charles Allen
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Randy Dudley (American, born 1950). Gowanus Canal from 2nd Street, 1986. Oil on canvas, 34 x 63 5/8 in. (86.4 x 161.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Charles Allen, 87.31. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 87.31_cropped_PS22.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 87.31_cropped_PS22.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT © Randy Dudley
The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org. If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.