 White Rose System Michael Endy chromogenic print, 18" x 24"; $499 Exhibited at Village West in the Under the Influence show, Fall 2016 |
 Drugstore (1927) Edward Hopper Inspiration piece for Michael Endy for the Under the Influence show, Fall 2016 |
"I create my art with a camera, so of course my influences are 20th Century painters. That's just the way things work out.
And I've always had a thing for Hopper. His urban paintings from the 1920s and 30s captured both the beauty and the social isolation of the American city. His canvases of gloriously lit yet otherwise ordinary architecture show so much loneliness and emptiness.
Here in suburban New Jersey, I have occasionally driven slightly out of my way to catch a glimpse of the curious White Rose System in Roselle. And that was during the day. But when I happened to unexpectedly drive past it at night, the lighting felt so much like a Hopper setting that I began planning to return with a new camera that would excel in low-light imaging. It wasn't a specific painting I was after, but the essence of Hopper, captured in a different medium. In New Jersey.
Once I had the perfect moonless night, I set my new Canon 5D on a tripod and waited impatiently for a time when there were no customers and no cars out front. The lone waitress in my image, with the inherent boredom of her motionless pose, adds that sense of disquietude that reminds me so much of Edward Hopper. Along with the architecture and the lighting, of course.
And the emptiness."
If you are interested in purchasing this work, please contact Michael Endy or visit michaelendyphotography.com.