Review of Peter Maeck's Grand Prize photograph "Mr. Liberty"
at New York Center for Photographic Art
NYC4PA FEATURES COMPLEMENTARY VISIONS OF COUNTRY AND CITY
Gallery & Studio Magazine
September 2015
The New York Center for Photographic Art, founded by photographers Patricia Gilman and Maddi Ring, presents a lively contrast between the organic forms of nature and the geometric forms that architecture imposes upon them in two complementary juried exhibitions titled Rural Impressions 2015 and Urban Landscapes 2015.
In Urban Landscapes, curated by Kay Kenny, the Grand Prize for the New York Center for Photographic Art went to Peter Maeck's reality warping photo of "Mr. Liberty." The eyes take center stage in this image of a mysterious figure swathed in verdigris robes. Only on closer examination can you decode that it's just a one of those costumed characters that now inhabit Times Square ... a Statue of Libery impersonator on a break. Still, something about the shiftiness of his glance is unsettling. Ninja? Cat burglar? Liberty after hours? I see a strong nod to Diane Arbus in its ability to inject the bizarre into the commonplace.