Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2009SYR14
Purchase Details
11x17-inches, printed on heavy weight (100-pound) Hammermill cover paper. We package each print with a piece of chipboard in a clear plastic sleeve.
You also receive…
An information page with photos of the artist and poet, and hand-written comments from each.
Medium- and large-format posters are available by custom order. Contact us for details.
The City Within
poster information
Description
The city within
holds a boulevard of hope.
Every street knows you.
I grew up on the south side of Syracuse, and as I grew older, like a lot of people, I moved away. For over 20 years, I lived in the New York City area.
When I saw this image, it reminded me not only of New York, but also of the time I spent as a child, being able to ride my bike in the streets. The street was like an extension of your house. You felt like you owned the street. And there was always a newness to it -- the promise of some kind of activity, either taking place or about to take place. The image spoke to that memory --the city outside. But as you mature, there's also the city within -- meaning the comfort that I contain within me, as an extension of the love that I have for God.
When I was in Syracuse University's Independent Study Degree Program, we were assigned an illustration of New York City after we visited. I did not want to create an image that captured common images used to express the city. Instead I did a group of 12 illustrations that captured aspects of the New York I knew from my time living on the West Side.
I was familiar with people congregating on stoops together -- people in the neighborhood mixing and meeting. From that came the concept of the people and culture from the street, which drives so much of the music, art and fashion we see. I created this illustration as an outgrowth of that work suggesting the liveliness and activity the street drives.