These works depict commercial buildings in New York City under construction. The sheer quantity of demolition and rebuilding there are shocking, and the incessant noise continually drives it home. The feeling of always striving after something newer, better, bigger, taller seemed so American to me. I wondered if the city would soon have a homogenised feel to it, and wanted to capture glimpses of beautiful old facades being torn down. I viewed NYC as a microcosmic symbol of the systematic destruction of individuality, history and character in so many towns and cities elsewhere in the US. The moody, melancholy feeling the works possess reflect this. I was struck by the haunting, foreboding quality of these as yet uninhabited structures with their gaping hollows and scaffolding, soon to be masked by windows and doors.

I have attempted to convey the rough, unfinished look and feel of the structures using sand and modelling paste (which may have actually been used in their construction), and blurred brushstrokes, to imbue the scene with an ethereal quality.