Many artists, when they’re looking for ways to represent New York City, turn to its most well-known icons: Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, or the Empire State Building. For this week’s cover, Mark Ulriksen chose instead to paint a state of mind—the feeling that a walk around the city at night can evoke.
Why represent Manhattan as a night scene?
On my first visit to New York, when I was a twenty-year-old college student, I spent a day with my roommate, who was from Long Island, on a grand tour of Manhattan. We did all the touristy things—Empire State Building, Wall Street, the Twin Towers, the [Greenwich] Village Comedy Club, Little Italy, et cetera—but I was somehow disappointed. It wasn’t the Manhattan I had envisioned. Finally, at midnight, we took a ferry to Staten Island and back. When I saw the glittering skyline, I had my “Aha!” moment: this was the view I yearned for; it keeps inspiring my images of the city. I’ve been in love with this island of lights ever since.
Did you look at any reference images?
The play on lights was inspired by a photograph by Fred Lyon of San Francisco, where I live, in the fog. I did a loose oil painting, adding my version of those soft, hallowed lights to help me get the feeling I wanted.
You said that if this image were turned into a jigsaw puzzle it would be a devilishly hard one. Is that something you think about when you conceive covers?
Not really. I was mostly concerned with creating a playful compositional and tonal balance, and with moving the eye around the scene and keeping the viewer engaged. But my family has completed many New Yorker cover puzzles over the years and, at some point, while working on this, I thought, Wow, all these blues and yellows could make for a really challenging puzzle.
Do you like walking around the city? Which are your favorite neighborhoods?
I love walking around the city! When my wife, Leslie, and I visit, we’ll walk about ten to twelve miles a day. Lately, we’ve been visiting Brooklyn and enjoyed walking around Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, Park Slope, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and the Greenwood Cemetery. Of course, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is amazing both for the structure and the views. In Manhattan, we’re partial to the Upper West Side, the Lower East Side, the Villages East and West, Chelsea, and Central Park. It’s all great!
Are there other cities you’re eager to experience at night?
Any city with great architecture, like Chicago, is magnificent, but nothing beats New York at night—though, Paris ain’t too shabby! It is another great walking city and, of course, it’s the City of Light.
For more New York city covers by Ulriksen, see below:
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