Photographer Richard Sandler’s exhibition shows contrasting lives in New York, 1977-2001
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Life on the street: Children collapsed on the train, a heartfelt kiss and the smoking Grand Central Station are among the trove of images taken over two decades capturing ‘race and class’ in New York City
- Expanded exhibition shows the contrasts of life in New York City, 1977 – 2001
- Photographer Richard Sandler captures the race, class and tension of the Big Apple
For nearly 25 years, Richard Sandler’s photography exposed dramatic contrasts of class and race in one of the world’s wealthiest cities.
Now, the Bronx Documentary Center in New York will host an exhibition of works from the artist’s monograph, The Eyes of the City.
Visitors can delve into Sandler’s personal history in New York, from 1977 to 2001, including never-before-seen footage, up to an extended date of March 26, 2023.
A native of Queens, Sandler’s street photography offers an exceptional window into the realities of everyday life in the Big Apple.
The photographs show the tension inherent in America’s largest city, weary commuters squeezed into a noisy subway, couples finding romance in the quieter moments, and families forced to face the reality of the large population of homeless people. city home.
The exhibition also features three of the artist’s films, capturing the different experiences of a transition period of gentrification in Times Square and the East Village from 1999 to 2006.
Sandler turned from photography to making movies exclusively after 9/11, most recently directing Radioactive City in 2011.
He exhibition will be available Thursday through Friday from 3 to 7 pm and Saturday through Sunday from 1 to 5 pm at the BDC Annex, 364 E. 151st St, Bronx, NY 10455.
SUBWAY KISS (1987) – Travelers wearing sunglasses ride a dirty subway in New York. They sit with their arms crossed or their hands clasped. Through a broken window, a couple share a kiss on the platform. Sandler explained: “This photograph was extremely lucky: I boarded the train in the middle of the car, then walked to the end of the car where I saw the couple about to kiss on the platform and the two boys with shadows in the foreground. I did two photos with the doors open.Then the doors closed and to my astonishment the glass shattered exactly where the faces of the kissing couple lined up.I knew that was the best photo of the three paintings.Sometimes the gods of the they throw you a bone and you take a photo that instantly becomes a metaphor’
GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL (1990) – The photograph shows a busy station at 1:49 pm The silhouettes of professionals, families and shoppers can be seen in the iconic station walking in different directions. Light from the tall terminal windows obscures the busy figures below. ‘I am an inveterate street documentarian and my path was, and is, to ‘take the pulse’ of the city and offer a kind of diagnosis in images’
RR TRAIN (1982) – Motion blue shows the moment a woman approaches three motionless children sleeping on top of each other in the New York subway. On one side, a woman wears a summer dress near an open window. On the other, an elegantly dressed man sits quietly reading. “Most people assume that the three black children are related to the black woman on the right, but that’s not the truth,” Sandler said. The dozing children were on the train with the white woman and I first took some photos of that scene. Then the woman on the right got on the train, saw me taking a picture, got mad about it and tried to block their faces from my camera.
WEST 32ND STREET (1983) – A family walks down West 32nd Street in New York. A man holding the hands of two well-dressed children looks back as the children notice a barefoot homeless man begging for change on the ground.
CC TRAIN (1985) – A woman stands on a train holding bags and grabbing the pole in the middle. Three people around her, all sitting apart, turn to look at Sandler as she takes a photo of him.
SUBWAY NOIR (1987) – A well-dressed man is sitting alone reading a newspaper in the New York subway. The space around him is marked with loud, unintelligible graffiti tags.
ARGUMENT, 5TH AVENUE (1983) – A man and woman are seen arguing on Manhattan’s prominent Fifth Avenue. The woman’s face darkens as she places her hands on her hips. The man in front of her opens his hands. Her face cannot be seen either. Passers-by continue walking without acknowledging the scene.
NANNIES AND TYKES (1982) – Four women are photographed walking with strollers in Soho, New York. Three appear to greet the street photographer while another looks to the right of him. The four children seem distracted by Sandler.