My friend Dusty Berke received an award for her arresting photograph Playing Statues on Bleecker on October 16 at the prestigious Salmagundi Club. The photograph of West Village model and photojournalist Karen Rempel (moi) originally appeared in the “Karen’s Quirky Style” column in the May 2019 issue of WestView News. You might recall my blog entry on the fantastic Bill Blass bolero jacket I was wearing!
Why the Photo Won
A combination of elements attribute to the photo’s appeal, as reported in WestView:
- Dusty captured Karen’s eye-catching style, engaging smile, and luminous joie de vivre—the first things to draw the viewer’s attention.
- Karen strikes a prayerful pose with Chaim Gross’s uplifting bronze sculpture The Family, which he cast in 1979 and presented in 1991 to the City of New York in honor of Mayor Ed Koch’s service to the city (1978-1989).
- The complementary orange tones in the jacket and brick building, balanced with the gray shades of the granite and paving stones, please the eye and offer both excitement and rest.
- The symmetry of the triangular shapes of the statue, pedestal, and trousers demonstrate Dusty’s true artistic eye.
- A tiny detail, visible in the enlarged printed photo, is the words “Greenwich Village Historic District” on the West 11th Street sign.
- I would add one factor that wasn’t in the paper: Quirky Style!! People love to look at quirky style. 🙂
Fittingly, this photo appears in an exhibit of artwork celebrating the diverse, unique character of Greenwich Village, marking the 50th Anniversary of the Greenwich Village Historic District. The exhibit, which ends on October 27, also celebrates the Centennial of Salmagundi Club’s present location in an Italianate mansion at 47 Fifth Avenue.
If you’re in New York, check out the exhibit. The Salmagundi Club is open to the public 1-5 PM, seven days a week.
Mazel tov, Dusty!
I am so thrilled for my friend. She has the true eye of an artist, and she’s my favorite photographer to work with.
- She’s fun
- She understands color
- She has an intuitive gift for composition
- She is THE BEST at seizing the moment and making magic happen!
