#hell gate bridge

Isabella Banks Markell, Gracie Mansion, ca. 1944. Oil on canvas.

Markell features the historic mayor's mansion in the foreground with the Hell Gate Bridge in the background, obscured by the smoke and steam of the surrounding city and boats moving along the river. Markell's brushy style draws on Expressionist, Post-Impressionist, and even Ashcan conventions to present a spare, almost sketchy modernist image.

walking with geri on the hell gate bridge at 5:00am in the rain, summer, 2017

walking on the hell gate bridge is a right of passage for people from astoria, but growing up i never did it. one rainy, humid summer night geri and i were out and neither of us wanted to go home. he said, “let’s go somewhere, just trust me” and although i’m usually skeptical person i just did trust him. we started walking for a while until we ended up on some tracks. we continued until and i finally put it together and said “oh shit, we’re going to the hell gate bridge” and geri gave me a smirk like “oh yea we are.” 

we kept walking in the rain, almost completely silent as to not much too noise, literally ducking to dodge trains coming by so we wouldn’t be seen and charged with domestic terrorism for going on a bridge when we shouldn’t be. we finally got to the bridge at about 5:00am and i asked if i could take a photo. it was a bad idea - the flash could be noticed and we could get bagged, but we did it any way. i had one shot and this was it. it’s simultaneously the worst and the best photo i’ve ever taken. geri is a little of out focus and the bridge is very underexposed - but it’s the best because it looks exactly like how we were - sneaking around in the middle of the night in the dark trying not to get arrested.

we ended up just hanging on the bridge in almost silent for an hour and started to walk home, the sun rising as we walked on the tracks. by the time we got home we were completely spent, yet so energized by the adventure we just had

Manhattan se découpe derrière le Whitestone Bridge puis derrière le Hell Gate Bridge. Ce dernier a été achevé en 1916, c’est un pont ferroviaire de 310 mètres.

“Where Am I?” Issue #124