In the Grand Central Madison Concourse, Roe Ethridge’s photographs from his "Shore Front Parkway" and "Beach Umbrella" series are presented in ten large-scale SEG fabric lightbox displays. All images were taken at Rockaway Beach where the artist lives and works. The "Beach Umbrella" series features photographs captured on four consecutive Mondays in July and August of 2020, shortly after the beaches reopened during the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic. Broken umbrellas in vivid colors appear as geometric abstractions, juxtaposed with familiar beach-day elements: a model with a body board, a vision of flipflops in the sand, and sunflowers. The artist described the objects as “joyful in an archaeological way, like discovering the remains of a party or ritual celebration” after a period spent in isolation. The five images are paired with selections from "Shore Front Parkway," which trace the seasonal shift from the waning of summer into the spectral tones of autumn. The photographs are unified by their exploration of light — both natural and artificial — including a captured rainbow, sun rays in a still life, a sunny-side-up egg, an artificial sunset backdrop, and glowing LED globe lights. Composed in the polished style of commercial editorial photography, the works blend digital manipulation and staged portraiture to create images that are at once surreal and beautiful. The exhibition will remain on view through March 2026.
The exhibition was generously sponsored by Griffin Editions, Berger Textiles and Underground Visuals with installation support by OUTFRONT Media.
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