In 2017, the Kosciuszko Bridge, the 1930s steel truss bridge connecting Queens and Brooklyn, NY, was demolished; and a new cable-stay designed bridge was put in its place. Such strength and power reduced to rubble!
I was fascinated, and spent time on site that fall documenting the demolition process. (See above.)
The bridge faces the Calvary cemetery, where some of the men who worked on its construction are laid to rest. I thought about that a lot as I drew: How they witnessed their monumental achievement hacked into pieces and carted away. It seemed like by documenting it I was, in a way, preserving the importance of their work and craftsmanship.
Back in my studio, the drawings became a point of departure for a series of abstract paintings and collages exploring the dissolution of these structures, as well as how nature reclaims industrial spaces. As I continue working with this series it’s becoming, for me, a larger metaphor of how once-revered institutions break down and what replaces them. Which seems very relevant to the times we are living through.
Posted by Veronica
View the smaller paintings and collages in my online exhibit with Emerge Gallery, Small Works, Â HERE.
