New York City: Unexpected Perspectives

Black & White Photography by James Frick

The word perspective has a Latin root meaning "to look through" or "to perceive." Thus, all contemporary meanings of the word have to do with looking or perceiving. If we observe the world from someone else's perspective , we are said to see things through that person'e eyes. If we say that someone has perspective , what we mean is that they have a sensible outlook on life. In art, perspective is a geometric tool which gives one's work the appearance of depth or distance .

The landmarks of New York City have each been reproduced in one art form or another, countless times throughout the years. It is in the altering of perspective within artistic images (whether in the way the viewer's eyes are meant to see something, or in the way their brain is meant to think about something) that the artist is able to portray something old and familiar in a fresh and completely unexpected way.

James Frick