California based artist Brett Amory, first featured in HF Vol. 20 and our blog, paints haunting images out of a natural voyeurism for urban spaces. Amory describes his latest series of works as a sort of protest against the transformation of New York’s Lower East Side into a “gentrified wasteland”, which is changing the social character of the neighborhood. This series is a progression of his previous “Waiting” series that portrays the landscapes of cities like London and San Francisco, now losing their spirit and personality to urban renewal. The places he portrays here feel important set against white backdrops, immortalized in a nondescript place left to Amory’s memory. This includes businesses like New York’s Nuyorican Poets Cafe, home to a 25 year old non-profit dedicated to sustaining creative diversity, and the more famous CBGB, the “birthplace of New York rock, folk, and punk music”. With a loose and expressive style, Amory has a physical presence throughout- he expresses a close connection to his disappearing environment by painting subtle reflections of himself as a ghostly witness to its demise. Take a look at a few images from Brett Amory’s latest works below, courtesy of the artist.
Photo by Shaun Roberts
Photo by Shaun Roberts
