Since 2004, Italian photographer Olivo Barbieri has been creating "series of large-scale aerial photographs on major sites in Rome, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Montreal, Los Angeles, Amman, Florence, Milan, and New York," (from the press release). His series of these photos for NYC titled site specific_NEW YORK CITY 07 is currently on view at Yancey Richardson. To shoot his grand, surreal images Barbieri takes "a large format camera with a tilt and shift lens" to vertigo-inducing vantage points and captures scenes of the metropolis resembling plastic miniature models. Seeing Times Square, Coney Island, the UN and Flatiron Buildings distorted and dwarfed from so high above really make you feel puny (or alternately like Godzilla about to trample everything under foot). Traffic and cars dot the streets like tiny game pieces, sunbathers in Central Park look like a smattering of confetti on a green carpet, and Coney Island's Wonder Wheel resembles a not-so-wonderous hamster wheel.
Even going to the top of the Empire State Building doesn't give you this unique viewpoint of our fine city. Barbieri's photos allow you to look at the urban landscape and architecture in a very different way and marvel at the city's magnificence. Along with all the other cities he's photographed, you can see how Barbieri captured his own home city of Milan at the artist's website Olivobarbieri.it. Learn more at Yanceyrichardson.com. Through May 28th.
site specific_NEW YORK CITY 07, 2007, (Times Square horizontal)
site specific_NEW YORK CITY 07, 2007, (Flatiron Building)
site specific_NEW YORK CITY 07, 2007, (UNITED NATIONS)
site specific_NEW YORK CITY 07, 2007, (Coney Island)
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