Maria Levitsky: Building Photographs

by | May 21, 2009 | Art

marialevitskythunderbolt.jpgVia WFMU’s Beware of the Blog: One of my favorite freeform DJs, Maria, has a show of architectural photos opening tonight in Manhattan:

Deborah Berke & Partners Architects LLP

Maria Levitsky
Building Photographs

Opening Thursday May 21, 6:30-8:30pm
220 5th Avenue, 7th floor
New York, NY
212 229 9211

Open all summer 2009 by appointment

In her artist’s statement she relates her craft, in a way, to the work of historic preservation:

It is this evidence of disappearance that I desire to record in my
photographs. I look to create images that incite the imagination to ask
the question what could have happened here? and who left these traces?
The photograph itself becomes a trace as the scene continues to change
in time, as many of the locations are demolished or redesigned.

I’d like to think that she conceptualizes recorded sound in similar ways. Among other audio treasures, Maria introduced me to the bass player Henri Texier: I remember very clearly the first time I heard him on her show. (It was one of those moments you drop what you’re doing and call the station to see what’s playing.) I’ll forever be grateful — and can’t wait to see what visual treasures she’s captured in her exhibit. If you want to listen to her radio shows online, click here.

The 2001 photo shown above, left, is of the now-demolished Thunderbolt roller coaster at Coney Island. At the website linked you’ll find historical nuggets like this: “In the “American Experience”
documentary Coney
Island: A Documentary Film, Mae Timpano described
her years living under and working at the Thunderbolt, ‘We used to find teeth in the yard. We used to find wigs, glasses, guns. Everything we found in the yard … nobody came back for them, though.'”