Broadway and 181st Street

Watercolor on paper

24"x32"

$1,600.00

Francis Hsueh

I love finding moods of color and form in my city, where pedestrians meet machines and greenery punctuates structures. I take countless photos of everyday moments and leverage them to produce paintings that raise these mundane moments to life. The drama of light and form is a constant source of inspiration. Capturing those moments from my surroundings is how I honor my neighborhood. Watercolor is my primary medium for translating those moments into a visual statement.

 In my works I hope people can see both a representation of the world around me, combined with an aspiration for something that is beyond a literal depiction of a scene. I embrace a busy, wet street scene under a momentarily pink sky because there is a soft spirit of humanity that rises above our raw, often chaotic existence. I depict splashes of color on the scattered groups and individuals on Billings Lawn in Fort Tryon Park because the setting sun over the Hudson brings out our true, vibrant selves. And in the trees rising above Linden Terrace, I find a regal beauty in the way that same sunset has drawn out nature’s majesty in the simplest of patterns. All of these works capture post-pandemic moments, when life in Washington Heights returned in full force. People going back to work, busying themselves with outdoor errands, congregating, or just observing our beautiful park. There is a palpable ‘rising’ that makes this part of uptown Manhattan so exciting at this point in time.