Sputnik Lamp 2013
Archival Inkjet Print
Archival Inkjet Print
These photographs were made in the lighting district, on the Bowery between Kenmare and Grand streets in Manhattan. I recorded the dream-like imagery of hanging crystal chandeliers and LED lighting which were visible through the large glass window panes. The glowing interiors of the shops were visible while looking through the reflected scenes of architecture and activity of the street. It was intriguing to observe how these disparate elements occupied the same surface of the glass. I continued to photograph on this stretch of the city for ten years. The last images in this series were made in 2020.
This work owes to the history of photographers such as Atget, Abbott, Callahan, Friedlander, and the many others who have established the visual vocabulary of this genre, but it is also indebted to the layered collaged works of other visual artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg. The broad surfaces of the transparent glass panes of the store fronts are where these layered images materialize. On that clear division of space, the arranged interiors and the cinematic movement of the lively exteriors share a fleeting common order. The photographs record that accidentally orchestrated moment when all visual elements merge in a complex blend of multiple subject sources.
The rise in internet sales and the continuing robust real estate development of the lower east side of Manhattan had an impact on the livelihood of the rows of sparkling lighting shops on the Bowery. I saw more shops relocating or closing with each visit. After the final blow of the Coronavirus pandemic, only a few shops remain. My last images revealed many empty, unlit stores. The luminous, dream-like quality of this of unique Manhattan neighborhood seems destined to vanish altogether.
Electric Candles 2014
Archival Inkjet Print
These photographs were made in the lighting district, on the Bowery between Kenmare and Grand streets in Manhattan. I recorded the dream-like imagery of hanging crystal chandeliers and LED lighting which were visible through the large glass window panes. The glowing interiors of the shops were visible while looking through the reflected scenes of architecture and activity of the street. It was intriguing to observe how these disparate elements occupied the same surface of the glass. I continued to photograph on this stretch of the city for ten years. The last images in this series were made in 2020.
This work owes to the history of photographers such as Atget, Abbott, Callahan, Friedlander, and the many others who have established the visual vocabulary of this genre, but it is also indebted to the layered collaged works of other visual artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg. The broad surfaces of the transparent glass panes of the store fronts are where these la
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by COCA.
Geanna Merola
United States
Brief Biography
Geanna Merola is a photography-based artist whose use of photography spans a period of over forty years. She has exhibited her work in numerous group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally ,including solo exhibitions in Ferrara and Sabbioneta,Italy. She has received multiple fellowship grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and an NEA/Mid-Atlantic Regional Fellowship. She completed a Mid-Career Fellowship at Princeton University in 2000 where she studied with Emmet Gowin and Peter C. Bunnell.
Merola’s work is included in private, public, and major corporate collections and has also appeared on CD covers for Deutsche Grammophon records as well as book covers for works of fiction and poetry.
Merola retired from teaching photography and the history of photography at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey, in 2020. She lives in Ocean Grove, NJ and has a studio near her home.