color mezzotint
2001
24 x 35 1/2 inches
edition: 45
signed in pencil.
One of our collectors is an Olympic swim coach. He bought the piece because he said it captured all the mistakes made by a beginning swimmer
Art Werger’s lyrical suburban scenes are evocative of boyhood summer evenings while his city images are fraught with tension and isolation. Many of his mezzotints show the influence of film noire genre movies as well as paying tribute to the cinematic techniques of Alfred Hitchcock. In describing his work, Werger says “the people are seen in casual activities which dominate their daily routines, often preoccupied or oblivious to their situations. They are often observed from an elevated point so that the environment lays out in front of the viewer. The viewer becomes an omniscient voyeur, privy to the world below, yet curiously removed from it. As a cinematic device, this abstract angle allows for an overview of the scene as well as an introduction to the characters within the environment. The characters’ actions are intended to suggest a narrative which requires the viewer’s participation to be resolved.”
