Quiet City is Tim Saternow’s first solo exhibition of watercolor paintings at Prince Street Gallery.
Tim Saternow paints New York City. For years he has risen early on Sunday mornings to walk the empty streets of Lower Manhattan, finding the ordinary and overlooked. A longtime scenic designer for theater and film, he frames his settings before the characters arrive.
His urban landscapes begin with precise draftsmanship sharpened by years of designing sets. He then attacks that precision with drips and thrown paint, detonating blooms of color across unusually large watercolor paintings.
Saternow's mastery lies in the way shadow interrupts light, revealing the textures of brick, glass, and concrete - the worn facades of old buildings and their puddled, neglected side streets. These are streets we pass without a word. Saternow makes the city quiet.