Date: Fri 18-Sep-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Stone

Full Text:

Stone And Steel

w/1 cut

YONKERS, N.Y. -- As part of the Palisades Series, "Stone and Steel: Bridges by

Bascove" will be on view at The Hudson River Museum from October 9 through

January 3.

Bascove's works have been exhibited in Paris and New York for more than ten

years. She began painting bridges in the late 1970s when she lived in Paris, a

few streets from the Seine, and continued when she returned to New York to an

apartment near the Queensboro Bridge.

Her pencil drawings and oil paintings offer a unique perspective on New York

City bridges. Dramatic angles, unusual cropping and foreshortened and

flattened space characterize these powerful images. The artist's depictions,

with spectacular skies and the undulating spans, give the subjects an

anthropomorphic quality.

Devoid of cars and pedestrians, Bascove's bridges resemble monolithic

structures from an ancient age. She pushes beyond the power of concrete and

steel to lead the viewer into a world of intrigue and drama. Most of her

bridges are rendered in darkness, which adds to their mysterious quality.

The color pencil drawings on display serve as preliminary studies for the

larger-scale oil paintings. The paintings are reproduced in Bascove's recently

published book, Stone & Steel: Paintings and Writings Celebrating the Bridges

of New York City. Included is prose and poetry by 34 writers, both past and

present.

For information, 914/963-4550.