Monsters en Plein Air, the series of paintings I did on Governors Island this summer, combine
two strands of my past: childhood memories of watching science fictions films like Godzilla
and plein air painting, which I hadn’t done for fifteen years. I have been painting views of
Manhattan from my studio as part of my still life motifs for years, and thought it would be
interesting to be IN it, as well as looking at it. I also wanted to incorporate objects in the landscape that I’d been using in my still life set-ups. I wasn’t sure how or if it would work, but I
felt I needed to connect the work in the studio with what I would be doing outdoors.

Dinosaurs seemed a natural choice to place in the views of the city. They’ve symbolized various
things for me: aggression, destruction, extinction. I re-watched some of those old films, and
realized why I’d always felt so comfortable with this imagery, and what a complicated effect it
had on me. The mosters are terrifying and destructive, but also pathetic, because of course they
die in the end. Like most New Yorkers, after watching the towers at the World Trade Center
fall on 9/11, I can’t look at the view of New York’s skyline without a sense of its vulnerability,
and by extension, my own. Placing these monsters within that view was a way for me to both
externalize my fears and make fun of them by creating absurd situations.

Moving from the contemplative quiet of my north light studio out into the landscape proved to
be disorienting at first. Surrounded by the changing light and weather, confronted with the
sounds of ferry horns, seagulls, speeding boats, helicopters, the waves against the sea walls –
I’d forgotten about the sensory overload of painting in the landscape. Then there was the
poignant feeling of Governors Island itself, a place in transition. Centuries of military history
have left behind two forts and stately residences, but it is largely abandoned now, and slated for
redevelopment in the near future. It felt suspended in time, and painting there felt that way
too – looking at the city from a near distance, separated from its hustle and bustle for a time,
only to be swallowed up by it again at the end of the day, when I stepped off the ferry.

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Checklist

1. Slouching Towards, 2007 Oil on masonite, 9 x 12 inches 

2. Looming, 2007 Oil on masonite, 9 x 12 inches

3. Brooklyn Battle, 2007 Oil on masonite, 9 x 12 inches

4. Approaching Ground Zero, 2007 Oil on masonite, 9 x 12 inches

5. It Came from Beneath the Sea, 2007 Oil on masonite, 9 x 12 inches