Walker’s Point Center for the Arts
839 South 5th Street, Milwaukee
Featured Member Exhibition: Paul Matzner
January 17 – April 5, 2014
Opening Reception: Winter Gallery Night, Friday, January 17th from 5 – 9pm
Matzner’s goal is to show people as they are, just being themselves, relating to each other or their environment. As one writer put it, it’s “the poetry of human encounters on the street”. His work is the culmination of four trips to New York City from 2008- 2012, which were made in order to capture moments of people in their everyday lives.
Just hearing or seeing the words “New York City” can quickly conjure up images of iconic buildings, masses of people, seas of taxis, 9/11, the Statue of Liberty, or other memories we may have. The scenes in this exhibit are smaller moments, as people go about their lives in the subway, in the parks, and in the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan. A few photographs capture the feeling and appreciation of being alive through human interaction, quiet gestures, and simple pleasures, as part of daily routines. Other photographs highlight the loneliness and isolation that can be a part of living in a big city.