New York Sleeps – Christopher Thomas

The « city that never sleeps » has been captured through the lens of notoriously famous photographer Christopher Thomas.     

Rockefeller © Christopher Thomas

 Award winning photographer Christopher Thomas will be exhibiting at the Wapping Project Bankside Gallery from January 10^th to February 26^th. The subject of this exhibition will revolve around the published book, New York Sleeps: Photographs by Christopher Thomas, 2001-2009 (Prestel 2009, 2nd ed 2010). The experience is breath-taking. And the city unfolds itself on the walls of the gallery.   A selection of thirty black and white photographs of the legendary city will be on display for the pleasure of the audience. The images could immediately strike as being spiritless, especially with the constant absence of human figures on all the frames, but they are without a doubt, beautiful photographs of the city, frozen frames of what is usually in the background. The use of the black and white theme in C. Thomas’s photography increases the intensity of the shadows, accentuates the lines and creates a surreal atmosphere and feel to the city.    

 When asked why he chose to maintain the black and white color scheme for this portfolio, and his abstinence to include individuals in his shots, he answered : « I wanted to try to eliminate time as much as possible. The black and white color scheme was a conscious choice which helped with supporting the vision I had .The first image I shot was on a day of bad weather and it was almost dark. I therefore needed a longer exposure time than usual, which led to the disappearing of the people at the scene of the shoots. I decided to keep the same principle for the other photographs, as it helped with making the city the main persona of the collection, whilst giving it a peaceful feeling as well as some time off from everyday noise ».    

The private viewing event took place on January 11^th with an extended list of around 100 VIP guests. The photographs were large ‘archival pigment prints on Arches paper’ either 56×76 cm or 101.6 x 142.4 cm, signed and in numbered editions. Books from the artist were also on display, along with a frame from the Passion Series.   

For more information on the artist and his work, please visit:  www.christopher-thomas.de   

For directions to the gallery, visit The Wapping Project Bankside Gallery website at http://www.thewappingprojectbankside.com/