top of page

71 BLOCKS

P1111597edit%20WIX_edited.jpg

42ND STREET, 42 x 96 in / 107 x 177 cm

71 block book stack fin.jpg

It's New York City post 9/11 and in its pre-teens after the millennium. It's been shaped by three terms of Mayor/businessman Mike Bloomberg.

Foreign capital is flooding the city like never before. The Chinese bought The Waldorf Astoria, the Saudis the Chrysler Building, and the Russians Trump Tower. Wall Street is marching on as if the collapse of 2008 never happened. The government is pumping 85 billion dollars into the US economy every month while cheering its "recovery."The attempt to ban monster-sized sugary beverage bottles from being sold throughout the city to counter obesity was rejected by Supreme Court. 

This is where my story takes place. I'm an artist from Germany, a place that felt dominated by screw factories and filing cabinets In New York, I was finally living somewhere that felt less regulated and was bursting with energy. In one word, I felt home. 

 

So, everything should have been great…if my girlfriend hadn't dumped me six months prior. 

P1244965edit WIX.jpg

UNDER THE HAMMER, 42 x 96 in / 107 x 177 cm

Everyone in New York has a purpose. Whether they want to make money on Wall Street, or they want to be an artist, or whatever their dream, they have a definite goal and are willing to make sacrifices to get it. 

The city is expensive, it's loud and it's dirty. People don’t live in New York unless they really want to, and there is something about that determination, that energy, that gets you. All sorts of different, driven people feeding off each other, creating this magic New York City vibe.

P1022457edit editWIX.jpg

JAY WALKERS, 20.5 x 30.5 in / 52 x 77 cm

The Native Americans called it “Manna-hata-Island of Many Hills where our people will live happily ever after forever.” 

​In 1625, a group of Dutch businessmen came along and claimed it for a handful of bric-a-brac and renamed it New Amsterdam. Forty years later, the British arrived, waving guns, taking over, and changing the name to New York. Poets and superheroes sometimes call it Gotham, musicians in the 20’s referred to it as “The Big Apple,” and the United States Postal Services’ stamp officially states New York, New York. ​The locals charmingly call it Nooyowk. People of the future will call the island “ManRATtan” after a harrowing loss in the Great Rat Battle of 2032. For those who are seeking adventure and don't fear sailing on unsure waters, the nautical coordinates are: 40˚42”46’ North, 74˚00”21’ West. 

P1089582editsmall2repWIX.jpg

FASHION STRIP 57TH STREET, 42 x 96 in / 107 x 177 cm

71blocks mockup.jpg

71 BLOCKS, Exhibition:

50 images, printed on fine art paper, mounted on individual boards, signed and numbered:

Ranging from  42 x 96 in / 107 x 177 cm to  8.5 x 11 in / 21 x 28 cm

Narration (pre-recorded), from the book 71 BLOCKS

Accompanying Book, titled 71 BLOCKS, 238 pages, Hardcover ISBN 9781714305889

Carl Jaud logo.jpg

71 Blocks is dedicated to my Grandpa Carl

who wrote and published books about traveling.

I guess not only his logo the flying wheel 

turned up in my DNA. 

bottom of page