New York, 2003, at Canal Street and Broadway Possibly 2003 - 2014

This photograph, "New York, 2003, at Canal Street and Broadway," was captured by Leo Rubinfien. It’s black and white, and full of the gritty reality of the city. You can almost smell the exhaust fumes, right? I think about what it must have been like for Rubinfien standing there, camera in hand. He’s watching, waiting, a hunter and a gatherer of moments. He sees this young man – the curve of his jaw, the way he's looking, caught between defiance and vulnerability – and he knows. He just knows this is the image. That glance, that slight turn of the head, it’s all so fleeting, like a brushstroke that can’t be repeated. It reminds me of the way painters like Alice Neel captured the soul of their sitters. They saw something, a truth, and they grabbed it with paint. And Rubinfien does it with light and shadow. Isn’t it funny how artists keep riffing off of one another, responding and questioning? It’s one big, messy conversation, and we're all invited.