MATS PEHRSON

Buildings and places have a story to tell. Memories and a burden of a city’s soul. Reading “Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul”, by Jeremiah Moss, became a starting point for a new series of oil paintings. The book reports on the city’s development in the twenty-first century, a period of "hyper-gentrification" that has resulted in the shocking transformation of beloved neighborhoods and the loss of treasured unofficial landmarks. As a reaction towards these changes of the urban landscape – both from my own observations in New York City and from traveling abroad - I peruse the cities to find old and sometimes even abandoned buildings and places, researching their history. A history captured on to canvas, that otherwise might get lost and forever will be gone and forgotten. The painting ”Keller Hotel”, shows a building from 1898 on 150 Barrow Street in Manhattan. It´s been abandoned since 1998 but due to being one of the last remaining waterfront hotels, and the stature of the architect, it became a New York City landmark in 2007. Part of its history, worth mentioning, is that from 1956 until 1998, the storefront of the hotel was called the Keller Bar, and it was said to be the oldest gay leather bar in the city. “165 East Broadway”. Today this place is a Chinese restaurant, but between 1941–1983 it was the legendary Garden Cafeteria, a center of intellectual Jewish life on the Lower East Side – and a gathering place for poets and writers such as Isaac Singer and Elie Wiesel. “Nitrolackfabriken”, depicts a paint factory in Stockholm, Sweden from the 1940s. It’s been abandoned and vandalized since 2006 when the production of paint was moved to another city. The building is representing high cultural and historic value and has been categorized as such. Even so, the unique building is doomed to be demolished and the whole industrial area is being developed into another gentrified neighborhood. My paintings will not last forever, but it’s an effort to honor our past, our history and maybe – a city’s lost soul. The paintings are detail oriented without being photorealistic. They are painterly with built up texture, visible brush strokes and emphasis on shadows and light.