The exhibit story
Beautiful City—Empty City showcases photographs made by the Austin-based photographer Leonid Furmansky. Selected from a portfolio titled Oil Towers, the images largely depict the glassy, gridded surfaces of high-rises in downtown Houston. Most of the photographs do not capture the entirety of their subjects. Instead, the frames are cropped into bottoms, middles, and tops and focus on repetitious facade elements. A handful are full-building portraits or collapse the facades of three adjacent towers together.
​​​​​​​With its central business district further hollowed out by remote work, the city became an empty, evocative canvas for exploration. The vacant, frozen shots are infused with feeling of isolation. Some people can be discovered, but they disappear within the city’s canyons. Still, there are signs of life. The lights are on; is anybody home? JACK MURPHY CURATOR
The exhibit
begins
Beautiful City Empty City by Leonid Furmansky
Curated by Jack Murphy
September 15, 2023 - January 19, 2024
Beautiful City—Empty City showcases the architectural photography by Leonid Furmansky shot in downtown Houston during the pandemic. Selected from a portfolio titled Oil Towers, these images depict the city we know so well as a mostly empty and evocative canvas for exploration. They invite speculation not only about the quality of Houston’s architecture, but also the systems and economies that both finance and maintain it. There will be several lectures, walking tour, and a photography workshop for kids associated with the exhibition. Leonid Furmansky is a Texas-based photographer. He is driven to document structures that represent the way we live. Leonid’s work has been published in the New York Times, Divisare, Texas Architect, Dwell, and ArchDaily. Leonid spends his free time documenting rural and overcrowded cities and experimenting with film photography.
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