Capital Idea

This painted construction is a three-dimensional relief sculpture. The artist cuts layers of aircraft grade birch ply-wood, meticulously finishes them into desired shapes, then paints and assembles them. The finished work is mounted within a large wooden shadow box frame. The image for this painted construction work comes from the Soho Capital Ideas Series.

Clayton Pond was one of the early artists to pioneer the SoHo area of New York City (SoHo for “South of Houston Street”), living in his Greene Street studio from 1969 to 1995. He watched as the area changed from a low rent warehouse district to a dynamic art center. SoHo was designated a landmark district in 1973, largely because of the century old cast-iron building facades. In the Capital Ideas series, the artist has monumentalized and commemorated the beauty of the cast-iron architectural details, enhancing them in his unique and colorful way. All of the subject matter for this series was visible from the front windows and fire escape of the artist’s studio at 130 Greene Street. His dry sense of humor is evident in the titles of these elegant paintings. Very few of the cast iron columns in the SoHo district are truly classic Greek, that is, Doric, Ionic or Corinthian. Most are combinations and departures from these styles. As the architects of these buildings took liberties so, too, did the artist in making up his own Latin-sounding descriptive names.