Hell’s Kitchen Paintings
Richard Maxwell
I take photos on my phone. I use the photos as an atmospheric reference to go
back to. Impressed with the empty streets of Hell’s Kitchen, my home for the
last twenty years, I started taking photos as I walked my dog. Hell’s Kitchen
had recently been overrun by Times Square and luxury apartments. Here was a
chance for me to come to terms with the place through an emptied-out landscape.
Despite the upheaval of the last year, somehow these buildings seemed calm and
stoic. Do they perceive what’s happening around them? Are they impugned by
world events around them?
During the pandemic, I could find no footing for writing about anything. Maybe
I needed more perspective. With the absence of crowds and cars, the buildings
took on a figurative aspect. I decided to paint them instead. I started painting
before the pandemic, but during is when it really took hold.
Early last fall, I started using a friend’s studio in Hoboken, and coming home
one night on the bus, I saw that in the South Building of Port Authority Six
Summit Galleries had taken over a vacant storefront across from the Dunkin’
Donuts. Then it clicked for me: the paintings belonged here. I wrote an email to
the gallery and they said I needed to talk to Leo. I called Leo and breathlessly
explained the idea. Leo said, “Sounds good, send me the images and I’ll call you
back.” I didn’t have images, because I didn’t have the paintings. The conversation
motivated me to get the paintings done. Three months later, they were hung inside
for commuters to see. I liked how the commuters might look at the paintings as
they travel by the glass and become both viewer and subject.
RICHARD MAXWELL is a playwright and director and artistic director
of New York City Players. He is the author of Evening Plays, The Theater
Años, Theater for Beginners, and Plays, 1996–2000.
© 2021 Richard Maxwell
PAJ 129 (2021), páginas. 1–6.
1
https://doi.org/10.1162/pajj_a_00572
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Ninth Avenue looking north. Acrylic on canvas. 60″ x 48″.
All images courtesy of the author, © Richard Maxwell.
2 PAJ 129
41st Street looking east. Acrylic on canvas. 52″ x 66″.
MAXWELL / Hell’s Kitchen Paintings 3
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42nd Street looking west. Acrylic on canvas. 66″ x 62″.
43rd Street looking east. Acrylic on canvas. 72″ x 60″.
4 PAJ 129
MAXWELL / Hell’s Kitchen Paintings 5
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Croatian Church. Oil and acrylic on canvas. 54″ x 69″.
Installation view. Six Summit Gallery, 2nd floor,
View of passersby in front of gallery.
Port Authority bus terminal, NYC.
6 PAJ 129
