Paper Mirror

Works Shown

Paper Mirror

"Post 2020 pandemic lockdown, we see New York City storefronts in various stages of development, from fully open, to provisionally boarded up with wood and cardboard, to empty and labelled with "For Rent" signs. We also see street art both sanctioned and unsanctioned, signals of the city’s eternal creative life. For 601’s storefront, we present a new way of marking place using the architecture itself. We have created intricate drawings that trace the contours of the windows’ usual reflection from across Eldridge Street. Over the last few years, Kevin has developed a large scale software driven plotter that deploys traditional art materials (in this case ballpoint pen) to translate source photography into crazily detailed line drawings. In this manner, we render photos of the facing facade into a “Paper Mirror”. This project extends our use of technology in our collaborations in various ways. One common idea in many of our projects is to record, stream, or include images of the site in which the artwork is presented. In our work, technology serves as a mediator between the human and the world, and as an active force which not only shapes its material but reframes the entire project of what we choose to see. Often, we find that lived experience outstrips available modes of presentation and discourse. By inserting a technical layer of mediation we can often reinscribe the feeling of surprise usually only available through chance encounters."