Lunkenheimer Building
2021-present:
This is an ongoing series of pastel drawings and prints of the Lunkenheimer Building in the South Fairmount neighborhood on the west side of Cincinnati. The enormous reinforced concrete factory was built around 1900 and served as a brass foundry for many years. It is now abandoned, was a superfund cleanup site in 2018, and continues as a prominent local landmark.
With an iPhone, I photograph this fascinating structure from a number of angles, during different seasons, weather, and lighting conditions. I then print out 8.5 x 11 inch greyscale photos, enlarge via a grid system onto 18x22 inch paper, redrawing as I go along. I've taken liberty with the perspective, colors and details. These are not photographic renderings but interpretations of this iconic building, meditations on not only the building itself but the laborers who worked there.
I also used this building as a subject for explorations in printmaking techniques such as etching, trace monotypes, and risograph.
