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How2 Special Feature : Artwork by Toni Simon

Working Note:

The uncertainty of the future, whether we will survive technology or if it will eventually destroy us, concerns and intrigues me. What record of the past will exist and for whom?

“The Course of Empire: Atom Smasher”—is the hypothetical lost 5th painting by Thomas Cole in his Course of Empire series. It is currently in Michael Murphy’s collection. Michael is a playwright who moved to New York from San Francisco a year ago. I asked Michael if the painting viewed the disaster in some way and he replied:

Most definitely. They rocked on the walls four times, the two hits and the two buildings collapsing. It viewed my building being enveloped in a thick cloud of debris, so thick my apartment went dark. I couldn’t see the cats on the other side of the room, let alone out the window. No damage, except a serious dusting. It now hangs on my wall in Mid-town.

“Sabina’s Return”: she returns to modern Rome to examine the plumbing. It’s based on a frieze in the Vatican—The Apotheosis of Sabina.

“Space surrounded by It’s Objects”: Fragments of machinery remain—fossilized, floating in columns through space.

“Medusa: A fragment from the Technozoic era.”

Simon 1

The Course of Empire: Atom Smasher
Simon 2

Sabina's Return
Simon 3

Medusa: A Fragment from the Technozoic Era
Simon 4

Space Surrounded by Its Objects

Bio: Toni Simon lives in New York City. Her work has been exhibited at the Drawing Center and appeared in Avec, Central Park, Generator and http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/piombino.


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