Cityscapes

Diamond Heights (26″ x 38″)

From a photograph by Winston Swift Boyer

A very colorful part of San Francisco, with each house projecting its individuality through style or color.  The pattern for the components was chosen to complement the subtle slants of the streets and the shapes of the buildings.

Russian Hill (24″ x 74″)

From a photomontage by Winston Swift Boyer

The image has several intriguing features:  First, it is expanded vertically to emphasize the transition between wide, low buildings in the foreground to tall, narrow structures further up the hill. Second, the geometric elements defined by the city streets converge at a single point above the image.  Together, these features define a pattern for the individual parts of the 6-layer piece: wider and shorter components at the bottom becoming narrower and taller further up, and folds in each component that radiate out from the convergence point.

New Bay Bridge – woven pattern (38″ x 26″)

From a picture I took from the bike path of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, using the criss-crossed suspender cables to define a pattern that continues throughout the piece.  For this pattern, the components are all mounted at the same level, but they are interlaced to create a woven design.

Sunrise in the Sunset (26-1/2″ x 38-1/2″)

Photograph by Jon Hope

One of my favorite pictures of San Francisco is Jon Hope’s striking aerial photograph “Sunrise in the Sunset.” The image simultaneously captures the uniformity and the diversity of the rows and rows of houses in the western part of the city (in this view, from 42nd to 47th Streets between Quintara and Pacheco). While usually I don’t match the pattern to specific parts of the image, in this case I couldn’t resist the urge to give each individual house its own component!

Sunrise in the Sunset Tetraptych (4 x 32″ x 18″)

Photograph by Jon Hope

I’ve also done a 4-panel “tetraptych” treatment of this piece, taking overlapping thirds of the image.  The panels are mounted in successive walls in an office in downtown San Francisco, as shown in the panoramic shot.

San Francisco Night (36″ x 50″ and 42″ x 58″)

Photograph by Elizabeth Carmel

A striking photograph by Elizabeth Carmel shows the city of San Francisco lit up on a clear night during the holiday season. From the bottom to the top, the components of the Xtra-Dimensions piece get narrower and taller, like the buildings from the foreground to the background, and are mounted in a pattern that aligns with Market Street and mimics the curves of the Bay Bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge (23″ x 38″)

Photography by Jeff Blaney

For this colorful photograph my friend Jeff took of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands, I tried an “enhanced perspective” pattern that radiates from the convergence point (outside the image) and expands into the foreground.

Bahnhof Basel (20″ x 34″)

Photograph by Jeff Blaney

My friend Jeff also captured this striking image of a platform in the Basel train station.  I tried to emphasize the perspective and sense of movement with a pattern that takes advantage of the symmetry of the image.  The depth is further enhanced by a slight fold in the acrylic support.

New Bay Bridge (31″ x 42″)

A different treatment of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, again using the suspender cables to define the vertical elements but in this case of a hexagonal grid. Because the angles at which these lines slant change across the image, the horizontal elements bring a subtle curve to the pattern, which in turn suggests the curve of the main suspension cables from the top of the tower.

Zermatt-Matterhorn (26″ x 38″)

Recently commissioned piece contrasting the town of Zermatt at dusk, illuminated from within, with the iconic Matterhorn still highlighted by the sun.

Marseille (26″ x 42-1/2″)

From an original oil painting by Hadas Tal

As the starting point for a potential wall installation, I made a maquette of Hadas Tal’s painting of an old tenement building in Marseille.  The regularity of the rectangular components of the image contrasts with the variety of colors, perhaps reflecting the diverse community that the building houses.

Return to the Home Page for links to more examples.