If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): city

Artist Kim Cogan is one of my favorite fine artists. His painterly depictions of Brooklyn, San Francisco and other urban centers capture the grit of city life with an elegance and loneliness that stirs the soul. The large scale oil paintings feature rooftops, intersections, subways and other elements of the city, but usually devoid of people. When rendering figures, they are not engaged with others, but instead in the acts of the ordinary (smoking, walking, biking) making the viewer feel like a voyeur in these intimate moments of the mundane.

above left: Kim Cogan at work on Manhattan Bridge in Fog and above right, American Dream, his latest painting (2012) for the Resolve Show at Joshua Liner Gallery

His painterly style simultaneously conveys energy along with a certain calm. The vacant midnight moments and late night neon sign stores portray the fact that cities never sleep, even when people do.

Recent works (2011):

Stop at Lorimar:

Spot Lite:

Paradise Deli:

Mission Intersection at Midnight:

Mission Intersection at Midnight (detail):

Night Rider and Dark Corner:

Open Late:

Third Rail:

Williamsburg at Midnight:

Passengers:

Contortionists:

Brooklyn Rooftops:

Small View:

Manhattan Bridge with Fog:

Bronx River Crossing:

Lower East Side Rooftops:

Rooftops in Brooklyn:

Late Afternoon:

Sunset:

Earlier works (2009-2010)

Last Chapter:

Smoke and Garden of Eden:

Sweet tooth:

:
Nick's Luncheonette:

Grey Day:

He shared a look at his process here on his blog.

And in this video, a demonstration of his painting process: Mission Intersection At Midnight. The painting took over 3 months to complete.:

The artist's site
Art Prints: www.827ink.com
Kim Cogan is represented by Gallery Henoch and the Hespe Gallery

NOTCOT(the fabulous site by my friend, Jean Aw and colleagues) did a nice feature story on this cool site, so I am reprinting it here.

Jean Aw: "Odds are if you are reading this, you PROBABLY should check the Walk Score of your current location and get walking. I mean seriously, we spend a bit too much time at our computers… well me at least. Apparently my current walkscore is well in the green, at 88% - what is that, a B+? A-? Its been a long time since i’ve thought about grades. “70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.”

This is an interesting mashup - Walk Score uses a patent-pending algorithm to calculate the walkability of an address based on: The distance to walkable locations near an address, calculating a score for each of these locations, combining these scores into one easy to read Walk Score. More details below on how the calculate an areas walkability…"

From Walk Score:

Walkable Neighborhoods

Picture a walkable neighborhood. You lose weight each time you walk to the grocery store. You stroll home from last call without waiting for a cab. You spend less money on your car—or you don’t own a car. When you shop, you support your local economy. You talk to your neighbors.
What makes a neighborhood walkable?

Walkable communities tend to have the following characteristics:

* A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it’s a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
* Density: The neighborhood is compact, rather than spread out, which brings people closer to stores and jobs and makes public transportation more cost effective.
* Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
* Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
* Accessibility: The neighborhood is accessible to everyone and has wheelchair access, plenty of benches with shade, sidewalks on all streets, etc.
* Well connected, speed controlled streets: Streets form a connected grid that improves traffic by providing many routes to any destination. Streets are narrow to control speed, and shaded by trees to protect pedestrians.
* Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
* Close schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.

They even have a page of “How it doesn’t work”

www.walkscore.com