Tuesday, March 22, 2011

"Manhattan" by Jim Flora

I do not live in New York City. I only visit, and as such, to me New York is a bright and bustling exterior of tourist opportunities and iconic Americana. It is the elegant and noble statue of liberty, the impressive St. Patrick's Cathedral, the latest Broadway shows, and sidewalks bursting with happy yet generic, fast-paced pedestrians. An outsider views New York like a child, with an understanding coming primarily from flashy photographs, stories, and movies. All at once the city is a romanticized old-fashioned dream and a modern metropolis. Jim Flora's print, "Manhattan", so much like a children's illustration, is New York from my point of view. It is not a real place where real people live and work. Instead it is so much more orderly and clean, an imaginary cityscape outside of time and the world. It is a place of joyful and noisy escape.

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