Down Town Johnny

Back in July 1999 when I was working on this painting, I had the thought that it would be interesting to see this same scene fifty years from now. How all of West Broadway would look different, but the Trade Center would be the only thing that didn't change. I never dreamed The Towers would be gone a little more than two years later. I remember the awe I felt as a child driving around the NYC area and seeing those towers in the haze, glistening in the distance. They subconciously made us proud to be from New York. And being born in 1968, our generation had a certain affection for them because we hardly new life without them. I remember seeing them as they were being built. They were black toward the top as they were being finished, and little by little, the black at the top dissapeared. I must have been four years old. The strange thing is, I don't think I ever stood under the towers until I was about 18, which is weird for a kid that lived near Manhattan Island all his life.

- John Tartaglione

Through The Ashes

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