Arches 2024
It all begins with an idea.
Arches, Shai Solomon, Gouache on Paper, 2024
I painted “Arches” on location in Washington Square Park. It was a sweltering day in August, with sunshine so bright it appeared to bleach the pavement and buildings. I wanted to capture the “swoop” of leaves bisecting the famous arch, creating the illusion of two offset curves.
I spend a lot of time in Washington Square Park. The cacophony is freeing, and nobody is out of place. It feels natural to paint there.
Alongside the chaos of buskers, artists, tourists, executives, and unhoused people, the enormous arch casts its shadow. It is a triumphal arch honoring George Washington, the namesake of the park. Triumphal arches are modeled on a type of Roman monument. Roman emperors had triumphal arches constructed to celebrate expansions of the empire. One of the original triumphal arches, the Arch of Titus (81 AD), was built to commemorate the conquest of Judea eighteen years prior. It is decorated with scenes of the Sack of Jerusalem.
(From left to right: The Washington Square Park Arch, The Arch of Titus, L'Arc De Triomphe)
Even after the fall of Rome, the triumphal arch continued to be repurposed as a symbol of control, just as the legacy of Rome was repurposed for new forms of Western hegemony. The L’Arc De Triomphe in Paris, for example, was built in 1806 to honor Napoleon’s attempts to expand the French empire in the Napoleonic wars. There are countless other examples across the world, from India to Ukraine, of these arches and what they symbolize. The same colonial architecture covers New York City. It can be difficult to remember that there was a time before these imperial structures filled our environment. This land, including what is now Washington Square Park, was once the home of the Lenape people.
Now, when the poor and marginalized gather in Washington Square Park, they do so under the looming arch. It speaks to their survival and resilience under systems of conquest. New York is full of these visual examples of our condition.
Despite the sweat and the sunburns, painting this piece was a pleasure. So many people stopped by to share their relationship to the park.
