Salvation on E29th

Edward Hopper might have painted this early morning cityscape, captured in the late spring of 2012. The city is not yet quite in gear, still the streets are already thick with traffic The sky glows a pale gray as the morning sun illuminates the rear entrance of the Church of Our Lady of the Scapular St. Stephen. Iconic yellow cabs, many in the final moments of a lobster shift, seek a final fare while a lone pedestrian walks alone.

Salvation on E29th is a boldly different sort of cityscape, one in which every inch of real estate is fully accounted for, yet the entire scene seems strangely empty and cold. Perhaps desolation and salvation are relevant only in the presence of each other.