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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Seventy Eight: Figures in the sky – a public art exhibition > The Conversation, New York City, New York, 2010
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10-JUL-2010

The Conversation, New York City, New York, 2010

This is the only image in my gallery that contains two Gormley figures. The foreground figure stands on a setback of the New York Life Insurance building at 26th Street and Madison Avenue. The other figure is three blocks away, at 29th and Madison. Yet I managed to isolate the figures in order to compare them. I contrast the figures in several ways: one is large, the other small. One is a partial figure – we see only his head and shoulders poking out of the parapet. The other is viewed at full length, seen standing in contrast to the size of the building it stands upon. One faces right, the other faces towards us. When we compare one figure to another, it seems as if they can’t help but recognize each other, and somehow converse.

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Phil Douglis09-Aug-2010 19:19
Yes, I intended this image to be surreal, Alister. Gormley himself bases his exhibit on the incongruous nature of the figures and their settings. By creating this relationship, I move the idea into the surreal realm. As for the 9/11 jumpers, they were very much on the mind of New Yorkers. When the exhibit first opened, those who saw the figures without being prepared for them immediately thought of people about to jump off buildings. The longer the exhibit ran, the frequent news coverage, as well as New York's familiarity with the subject, gradually reduced such fears.
Available Light Images09-Aug-2010 02:04
Surreal, almost apocalyptic in it's mystery. Somehow alien? I cannot shed this image from the memory of the 9-11 jumpers. powerful stuff Phil
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