Across The Bridge

 

This work is a portrait of the Amtrack Dock Vertical Lift, an ancient and majestic vertical lift bridge that connects Newark, the largest city in the State of New Jersey, by rail. It was built by architect John Alexander Low Waddell (1854-1938) in 1935.

 

For the creation of the piece, we were first inspired by the textile technique Ombré, original from Southeast Asia. We dyed the fabric and gradually shaded it with aquamarine blue from dark to light making a fabric sea. Later, we incorporated drawn patterns inspired by the history of textile art from East and West cultures. The sophisticated detailed drawing is created by hundreds of dots suggesting Ben-Day dots, which is used for four-process color printing, a modern technique. Finally, we used charcoal and black ink to contour line the complex geometry of the bridge’ structure.

 

Across The Bridge is not just an allegory to the twentieth-century modernist architecture or a tribute to one of the most innovative bridges of early last century, which at the time was one of the largest vertical lifts. The work goes beyond highlighting the aesthetic traces that the passing of time did not touch. In our view this bridge raises life challenges, issues of migration, new horizons, confrontation with the unknown that awaits for all of us on the other side. Somehow, though a bit hidden, this huge canvas reflects the portrait of our past, our ancestors, mestizo and vibrant blood that narrates the world’s history of migrations. Migrations that shape our contemporary society.

 

Year: 2015

Medium: charcoal, acrylics, ink, permanent markers on hand-dyed canvas

Size: 104 x 64 inches

 

Value: $14,000 €12,500

click on the image to enlarge and for more photos