“The New Romantic-2021” –

I found myself in the middle of nowhere a few times and realized that “nowhere” gave me the same feeling that New York City used to give me. I was driving 35 hours at a time. I missed the lamp posts in Central Park though, and everything they represented-(something romantic, something unforeseen. ) I drew a large mock-up drawing of a Central Park lamp post in the middle of the Badlands in western South Dakota. There was something melancholy and displaced about the drawing, but it also seemed necessary (almost as if everything the lamp post represents had to relocate a while or something would be lost forever).

It seemed like over the past few years the city turned its back on romanticism. Everything just got too controlled. I thank God that I still found a place that was wild, uncontrolled, and still romantic. I was on mountains surrounded by wolves, I was in valleys surrounded by rattle snakes, and was very excited to once again, not know, what was around the corner.

I cut out lamp posts from some of my nighttime Central Park negatives, and overlayed them on different images I took in Badlands, South Dakota, etc.. All these locations were hundreds of miles away from anything resembling a town/city. I still shot everything on large format black and white film, and the prints are split toned and tinted gelatin silver.