pastel – Myles Zhang

Pictures of Newark

11 January 2016 Browse All Work by Date, Newark Artwork

As a proud, lifelong Newarker, I’ve spent much of the past few years painting and photographing my changing city. Pictures features a selection of my work, complemented by Mussorgsky’s seminal composition: Pictures at an Exhibition. Five of Mussorgsky’s movements out of an original fifteen are selected, each of which represents the feel of a certain part of Newark. The following five locations are featured:

THE PASSAIC RIVER – Promenade (1)
ESSEX COUNTY JAIL – With the Dead in the Language of Death (13)
MOUNT PLEASANT CEMETERY – Promenade (8)
DOWNTOWN NEWARK – Two Jews: One Rich and One Poor (10)
PORT NEWARK – Promenade (3)

Curious about the history of the Essex County Jail? E xplore this interactive exhibit.

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Featured work from this film

Industrial Zone

The Chimney Falls – 2008

After Hours

Rusting Barge

Symmetry

Big Nation, Big Tires

Roman Ruins

Corbin St.

Essex County Jail

Port Newark

Downtown Newark

Newark Broad Street Station

Drawing by Myles Zhang

Essex County Jail

Waiting for Demolition

City in Autumn

Pulaski Skyway

This Way to Freedom

Sunset on the Passaic

Waiting for Demolition

A Sense of Scale

Craneway St.

Gulf Station

Old Industry

Urban Triptych

10 February 2015 Browse All Work by Date, NYC Artwork

As a child growing up in struggling inner city Newark, the gritty urban environment always inspires me. Newark’s abandoned factories and rust belt industries are fuel for my imagination and inspiration to remember the passage of time.

Popup Park

19 October 2014 Browse All Work by Date

Situated in front of New York City’s Flatiron Building is a triangular spit of land bordered by three major streets, Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and 23rd. The currently underutilized space could become a vibrant public square. Such a park should reflect the vitality and dynamism of its neighborhood. Thousands of pedestrians pass through this highly visible intersection daily.

Popup Park creates a mixed use public space that adapts to its many users. Narrow metal panels measuring three by five meters roll out of a wedge-shaped storage container. Each panel serves a different function: bleachers, benches, bookshelf, public mural, basketball hoop, etc. When in use, the panels are alternated to adapt to multiple uses. When not in use, the panels slide back into their container, leaving an open communal space. Each panel is arranged according to the Fibonacci series or the golden rectangle. This permits a functional and aesthetically pleasing composition to be incorporated into each panel. The square’s periphery is arrayed with trees to shade the communal area and to offer a respite from the hectic concrete jungle.

Sketch 1

Sketch 2

Sketch 3

South Bronx

16 October 2014 Browse All Work by Date, NYC Artwork

Strolling in the Bronx, one aspect arrests me every time: Homogeneity. Block after block, street after street, a never ending treadmill of bodegas, tenements, hair salons, C-TOWN supermarkets, strip malls, and laundries. I ask myself, “Wasn’t I just here before?” I become an explorer lost wandering the Sahara; I retrace my footsteps.

And then . . . There is the ceaseless cacophony of Spanish speakers, buses, and autos. The chaotic maze of streets leads me to fantasize walking thru a painting by de Chirico. The copious signage for SHOES, SHIRTS, PIZZA, etc. hints at shabby decadence. The never too distant fast food joint hints at obesity in a quality food desert. The din of distant cars on the Cross Bronx or Major Deegan hint at childhood asthma. I momentarily immerse myself in the urban grid.

After many hours, I spy an elevated subway stop in the far distance. I take the next southbound train back to Manhattan. I must return to the Bronx soon. The outer boroughs beckon.

To read more about my walks in New York, click here.

Marble Hill Home (2662 Kingsbridge Terr)

This home is still occupied (2662 Kingsbridge Terr).

Subway Trestle (228th & Broadway)

Parking Attendants (232nd & Broadway)

Pedestrians wait for bus (228 & Broadway).

Latino family strolls to Target (Marble Hill Projects).

Latino couple in South Bronx

Riverdale Home (246th & Cayuga)

Children’s Dentist (Kingsbridge & Heath)

Discounted Gold

Communion Dresses

Lady wearing shirt reading “Heart Breakers” passes Amiga Fasion.

Copious Signage (233rd &Broadway)

Tenement Row on Kingsbridge Road

King’s Pizza (Sedgwick & Kingsbridge)

Garbage Collector

Kingsbridge Corner Bodega

Metro Sunday Sidewalk School teaches Biblical stories.

Broadway & 242: Last Stop

Elderly lady crosses Kingsbridge Road.

Haircut on Kingsbridge

New Jersey Meadowlands

20 August 2014 Artwork, Browse All Work by Date, Newark Artwork

The meadowlands, nestled between New York City and Newark, is a strange sort of interstitial zone. It belongs to neither nature nor to man. The grasslands and birds of nature are abundant. Yet, so are the derelict factories and warehouses of yesteryear. The unwanted detritus of civilization is cast off into the meadowlands, ranging from garbage to industry.

Through this region of indeterminate identity pass millions of commuters on their way to and from work. Many look out the windows of passing trains, planes, and cars. Yet few care to observe the lapping tides and bizarre beauty of this unwanted strip of land. The views below are drawn from memory. They show various scenes from my daily train ride on NJ Transit between Newark Broad Street and Hoboken Terminal.

Buried Treasure

Overhead Power Lines

Jersey City Factories

Sunset on the Passaic

Industial Beachhead

NJ Meadowlands

Hackensack River

Premonition of a City

Railroad Station

Old Industry

Shell Oil Monopoly

After Hours

Power Generators

Hackensack River

Meadowlands

City in Autumn

Industrial Zone

Power Generators

NJ Meadowlands

Factory Yard

Watercolors and Drawings of Nature

20 August 2014 Artwork, Browse All Work by Date

Grand Central Terminal

17 June 2014 Browse All Work by Date, NYC Artwork

I admire the beauty and bustle of Grand Central Terminal, a truly grand public space.

Information Booth

Grand Concourse

Clock

Main Waiting Room

Grand Central

Dino-Ville

16 June 2014 Browse All Work by Date, NYC Artwork

In the New York of my imagination, dinosaurs emerge from the Museum of Natural History to haunt the city “that never sleeps.” They roam the streets engaging in dinosaur activities: scaring people, stealing from butcher shops, and terrorizing the skyline. For one night, the fabled city is theirs.