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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orange County Gets a New York State of Mind
Harlow’s Fine Art to feature photographs by Gerard Van der Leun, a former New Yorker now living in Laguna Beach, Calif.
LAGUNA BEACH, CALIF., Feb. 11, 2004 – Although the entire country was affected by 9/11, there's no doubt that those who saw, felt, and tasted the devastation first hand were affected in ways that have altered their lives forever.
Gerard Van der Leun, a longtime New Yorker now living in Laguna Beach, Calif., is certainly one of those, as these notes made on 9/11 show:
“Then the first tower imploded and plunged, it seemed to me, straight down. An immense wall of black smoke seethed through all the streets between the buildings, surged over us on the other side of the river and, at the same time, clawed up until it took over the exact center of the sky…You don't know what to think. You don't know what to feel. You are just reacting. Every so often, above the belt of flames you could see a small dot arc out and then plummet down. Later we learned those dots were people.”
New York Life: Images After the Fall is a photographic installation by Van der Leun that documents, with stunning immediacy, a recovering city and its inhabitants in all their pain, joy, strangeness, and splendor. The exhibit opens at Harlow’s Fine Art, a contemporary gallery in Laguna Beach, Calif. on Sunday, February 29 with reception from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m.
After 9/11, Van der Leun became obsessed with documenting New York, exploring the city as he never had before. His solo exhibition, New York Life: Images After the Fall, consists of over 200 images, and includes pages taken from journals with scribbled notes, daybook entries, and collaged pieces.
“Prior to 9/11, I was living the good life, working in the City, and was fairly Liberal in my views,” Van der leun said. “After 9/11, I did a 180-degree turn. It made me question everything I ever believed in. And I didn’t like the answers. It made me reexamine my priorities. And ultimately, it brought me here to Laguna Beach.”
“We need to remember and honor those who lost their lives at The World Trade Center,” said Harlow’s owner Ashley LaJune. “Not just once a year, but always and forever. Showing Gerard's photography, which commemorates New York City on such a personal level, is just one way we can demonstrate our love and concern for all those who were lost on 9/11.”
About the artist
Gerard Van der Leun (b. 1945) grew up in Paradise, California. Over a 30-year period in New York – with extended stints in London, Paris, and Portugal – Van der Leun was senior editor and director of Paperback Publishing at Houghton Mifflin; a writer and editor for PENTHOUSE magazine; European publisher for OMNI magazine; and author of two books: The Rules of the Net and The Quotable Sherlock Holmes. His articles on technology and the Internet have appeared in WIRED and TIME magazines, among others; are used in college courses to this day; and have been widely reproduced online, as has been his poetry. Gerard Van der Leun now lives in Laguna Beach, California with his wife and stepson, where he publishes the popular weblog American Digest .
New York Life: Images After the Fall opens with an artist's reception, Sunday, February 29, 2004, 12-4 p.m., at Harlow's Fine Art in Laguna Beach. The show runs through April 2004.
For information and selected images from the show, visit www.newyorklifeimages.com.
Harlow's Fine Art
332 Forest Ave., Suite 7
Forest Avenue Mall
Laguna Beach, California
949/376-6075
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Media notes:
For more information, contact:
Ashley LaJune, Harlow’s Fine Art
949/376-6075 or infobites@aol.com
Gerard Van der Leun
gvdl@cox.net, www.americandigest.org
