Greg Neville, Figure 1, 2013

This year’s CCP Salon opens on November 21. This is my work, a human figure taken from a 1912 postcard of Wall Street. I have a small collection of vintage postcards of US skyscrapers, many of which include tiny ant-like people on the streets.

The printers dots almost overwhelm the figures, which hover just at the point of disintegration. They have an appealing quality of mystery. Since the postcards are derived from photographs, although heavily retouched, they do represent reality and the figures are real people. Who were they? One of the enigmas of photography is this preservation of identity. Despite the distance of time and the disruptions of technology, we encounter this anonymous figure as an individual like ourselves, a fellow human being,

Postcard, Wall Street, New York City, 1912

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