David Ebony's Top 10 New York Gallery Shows for October
By David Ebony
October 23, 2015
#6 Enoc Perez, at Peter Blum, through November 14
Someone had to do it—that is, produce the first iconic paintings of the brand new “Freedom Tower." It's a good thing that it's a painter of Enoc Perez's stature and talent. Known for his painstaking renderings of storied structures like the Marina Towers in Chicago, or the Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami, Perez takes a cue from Andy Warhol in this haunting series of large canvases (80 by 60 inches). Featuring subtle variations on a single image, One World Trade Center, most of these works are set against shimmering silver-leaf backgrounds.
The ten works lining the walls of the gallery deliver a singular punch, echoing the monolithic presence of the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill-designed skyscraper itself. In the series, the Puerto Rico-born, New York painter seems to have borrowed Warhol's silkscreen stencil technique of overlapping, identical images. Perez's work, however, results from a painstaking transfer process involving oil-stick drawing imprints on the canvases, and countless layers of oil pigment. This series elicits many emotional responses. Like architectural ghosts, the multiple images conjure the Twin Towers, conveying a feeling of loss and foreboding. Another way to view the series, with its reference to Warhol's "factory," is as an homage to New York City itself, a paean to the ever-vibrant, indestructible Big Apple.