Client: NYU Langone Hospital

Overview

Five immersive photographs feature a lush estuarial panorama by Linda Cummings permanently installed in the lobby of New York University’s Langone Hospital in NYC. In contrast to the fast-paced urban streets outside, Cummings’ “Drawing Water I-V” provides a calming and restorative experience of nearby waterways, inside. Like the East River, a few blocks away, the hospital lobby is where people and traffic circulate as they come and go – gather their bearings – or rest and reflect before continuing on their journey.
The Musculoskeletal reception area features another eight framed photographs from the artist’s “Binary” series. In these double-images, Cummings puts into play the optical phenomenon of binary rivalry. Her proposition is that, “the camera records a one point perspective, our eyes record two and our mind converts those stereoscopic signals into a third – latent image”. By pairing two images made moments apart side by side in each photograph, she offers an exploration of that optical experience.

Goals

Cummings states: “I want to explore the mysteries of light and make artworks that come alive when people touch them with their eyes.” For NYU Langone Hospital Cummings created meditative waterscapes to invite viewers to slow down, take their time, reflect and ponder the natural estuaries and waterways that form the borders of Manhattan. Linda Cummings is known for artwork that expands the viewer’s perceptual awareness through immersive images that reveal the substance of light on water - and blur the boundaries between drawing, painting, performance, and photography.

Process

Cummings’ fluid practice of both drawing and photographing while balanced in her kayak invites the uncertainty of natural forces to inform her process - the wind, the current and sunlight each collaborate in the images made of her dance between chance and control, surprise and intention.
All images are non-manipulated, full-frame digital photographs captured while kayaking in a tidal estuary of the Long Island Sound, NY. To achieve the sensual quality and tonal depth of natural light passing through water, the artist printed these photographs on archival 100% rag paper. While some are stand-alone, single images, others are grouped into double or multi image sequences.