Gowanus

In Alexis Rockman’s paintings, we do not see human beings. We see memories and vestiges of them in polluted canals, cascading piles of trash, crumbling monuments and mutated animals. We see their absence, and the altered landscapes they have left behind.The subject of this painting is the Gowanus Canal, a 1.8 mile waterway in Brooklyn, New York. The canal is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world and has been designated as a Superfund cleanup site by the United States EPA.