{"id":98,"date":"2018-11-05T16:42:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T16:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulraphaelsonwords.com\/?page_id=98"},"modified":"2022-01-20T16:38:02","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T21:38:02","slug":"sweet-ruin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/paulraphaelsonwords.com\/sweet-ruin\/","title":{"rendered":"SWEET RUIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some non-advertising content. This book features my photographs of a prominent Brooklyn industrial landmark that has recently been demolished. I wrote an essay on ruins in art history and in contemporary popular culture. I also collaborated with an architectural historian to research and write an essay on the history of the refinery, including its influences deep into New York and beyond American shores.<\/p>\n

The book was published by Schiffer Publishing in the fall, 2017, accompanied by a solo exhibition at the Front Room Gallery in NYC.<\/p>\n

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\"Cover<\/p>\n

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\"Book<\/p>\n

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From the preface:<\/b><\/p>\n

Domino\u2019s Brooklyn Sugar refinery, once the largest in the world, shut down in 2004 after a long struggle. Most Brooklynites of my generation know it as an icon on the landscape, multiplied on t-shirts and skateboard graphics. Urban explorers sly enough to breach the gates have found a playground of sublime, post-industrial texture and nostalgia. But what was<\/em> Domino? What stories were we missing?<\/p>\n

In 2013, shortly before the site\u2019s demolition, the owner generously let me in to explore. I had proposed an expansive\u2014even messy\u2014fusion of art, document, and industrial history. I wanted to show the ruin as its majestic self, and also as a lens through which to see the history of the place and its people.<\/p>\n

In a sense, I found myself looking at a long-gone version of the country, through a recently-gone company and community, through a soon-to-be gone labyrinth of architecture and machines.<\/p>\n

At the same time I found myself working in the abstract, seeing how much chaos I could allow into the frame, while still making a coherent picture. The visual density and confusion of the place invited this kind of formal experiment.<\/p>\n

At first, I struggled to find words to accompany the photographs, beyond \u201clook at this place!\u201d Now, after months of editing and sequencing, researching, and writing for this book, I see lifetimes worth of ideas behind and between the pictures. I\u2019ve gathered some of them into the essays in the back pages. I hope they help illuminate the photographs for you, as they did for me.<\/p>\n

But first, I\u2019d like to invite you in, quietly, just to look at this place\u2026<\/p>\n

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Promotional Video<\/b><\/p>\n

Shot by Marc Campana of Octopus Creative Group. I wrote the script, edited the video, and wrote and performed the music. And suffered through being filmed.<\/p>\n

The crowdfunding campaign earned over 5 times the campaign goals.<\/p>\n

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