Paintings about Brooklyn Infrastructure

Redemption Beneath the Expressway: In this piece, the structural geometry of the Gowanus Expressway is reimagined as an organic, living sanctuary. Broad, vertical strokes of deep green mimic the towering pillars and ribbed steel underbelly of the highway, arching upward to create a protective, cathedral-like canopy. Beneath this industrial framework lies a complex, calligraphic tangle of flesh tones, structural grays, and deep shadows—a visual representation of the dense human history and collective memories embedded within Brooklyn's waterside spaces. Shifting apertures of pale sky-blue cut through the heavy composition, filtering light down into the concrete clearing like stained glass.

Speeding Beneath the Gowanus Expressway: In the late 1980s, entering Brooklyn from the Battery Tunnel meant racing into the raw underbelly of the Gowanus Expressway—a gauntlet of crackheads, Hispanic gangs, burning garbage, and street walkers. Navigating this landscape at speed required a chaotic sort of skill, hitting elevated curbs between intersections just right to leap the car forward.

I remember lying drunk in the backseat during one of these runs, listening to curses yelled in Spanish from the dark, my friends stressed but laughing. Someone yelled, 'Punch it!' A second later, a loud steel crash echoed as our car plowed through a burning 55-gallon oil drum. It rolled right over the roof, spilling bright orange embers across the rear window to the soundtrack of manic laughter from the front seat.

But looking up through the glass, my focus was entirely elsewhere. I was absorbing the light reflecting on the massive steel struts passing far above. In the distortion of our speed, the hard, unforgiving edges of the industrial steel suddenly turned soft, fluid, and fleshy. That exact friction—the violent chaos of the street collapsing into a moment of strange, atmospheric grace beneath a steel ceiling—is what I strive to capture in this painting.