Fine Art Center Analysis

Mystery in the Street

Publicity, it is what New York City is about, very few cities around the world can rival what New York City brings to projected commercialization and publicity. The painting on display by Robert Polidori titled “Looking East, 42^nd Street , New York” helps demonstrate this very poignantly. New York City has grandeur about it, at the very core of its existence. It does not need any explanation of where or what it is and this is how commercialization/publicity is so easily garnered and given in the city.  Within the painting, publicity, commercialization, all help create an air of mystery within the painting, the combination helps create a dynamic piece of art that translates the past and present and moves it to the future.

In the painting the artist does not need to tell why the city is magnificent, instead he lets the viewer get engrossed into the painting.  To look in depth at the piece, one can see a city street that is not yet bustling, that the morning light is just reaching over into the streets. A large inconspicuous clock helps show that its 8:15 in the morning and soon the city street will awaken leading to new adventures and discoveries for every individual to travel down the well worn street. The skyscrapers that seem to tower above the streets, the elongated billboards that rise towards the sky, the long road that seems to never end. All of these help prove a point in Berger’s text with “the treatment of distance by perspective – offering mystery” (138). The very essence of mystery helps entrance the eye of the viewer, looking, digesting and ultimately taking meaning from the piece.

Further adding layers to this piece is that with the multiple examples of commercialization, one can see that capital is a very important part of any culture. Without capital one can not live life to its fullest extent. In this piece the billboards that promote beauty and even cartoons (such as Daffy Duck) help promote this ideal. Yes it is true that money is what allows for individuals to live daily, but according to Berger, one can see that capital can be viewed as “is the token of, and the key to, every human capacity” (143). If an individual were to view this piece it could be assumed that as they looked down the street, they would know that having money would help further their exploration of the mystery that is the distance of 42^nd street. Maybe they would be able to acquire an item with Daffy Duck, maybe have an exquisite meal on the famous streets of New York. All of this made possible with capital, and the mystery of what lies beyond. Mystery helps drive individuals to discover and without the means to discover they would never do such a course of action. Later in the text written by Berger “Ways of Seeing” he clearly states this concept as saying, “Publicity speaks in the future tense and yet the achievement of this future is endlessly deferred.” (146).  What better place in America and possibly the world to discover the mysteries that lay beyond?

                                                         Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting, 1972. Print.

Polidori, Robert. Looking East, 42nd Street, New York. 2002. Photograph. Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO.