Clines Rug Cleaners, Brooklyn

Clines Rug Cleaners, Brooklyn 24" x 24" watercolour on panel

Buildings can often be read like characters that we know, and often reflect the kinds of people who build and use them over time. Cline's Rug Cleaners, in Brooklyn, NY has it all. A self confident, unpretentious street style, bold, solid build, sturdy muscles. It has a heart on its sleeve kind of openness, a willingness to share honestly. No nonsense. Articulate, but not wordy. Reliable.

The stately elegance of Brooklyn Fire Department Squad No. 1 next door speaks of the pride and civic generosity of the men and women who serve there. I set the two buildings against a firey red sunset both as a nod towards the Fire Department and as a reference to the blistering hot summer skies that seemed so exciting when I first visited New York as a pale Londoner. 
The red sky has come to hold a different significance for me now, as this squad would be the most devastated FDNY unit impacted by the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11th. 12 of its 25 members perished as first responders.

This piece will be for sale in the exhibition along with others from New York.