I see magic in how physical forms dance with the spaces in between, how light and shadow become tactile, how material and surface change over time.
Neon Dreams
Overshot and overshared yet I feel something different here. A vibrating hum of memories from 20 years living on the Lower East Side. The resonance I see, feel and hear in my surroundings, amplified as only NYC could • Photo Illustration inspired by Public Hotel LES • Mike Brown © 2019
Cast Iron Ghosts
Windows are the streets’ witnesses. Day to night. And these cast iron giants have seen generations pass. TriBeCa always drove me to wonder about the lives lived inside and out of these majestic factory facades • Photo Illustration inspired by New York's cast iron architecture • Mike Brown © 2019
Cloud Gate
I think bridges are remarkable feats of storytelling. They are a threshold to a new place - in both directions. The leap across the East River is charged with legacies of two famous boroughs. What greater bridge can there be? • Illustration inspired by Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale • Mike Brown © 2019
2 Stroke
I see movement in the built environment - with or without jetlag from the 26 hour flight to Cape Town. Es Devlin's installation was a proverbial window to the future of electric travel, but I saw otherwise • Photo Illustration inspired by Es Devlin's Zoetrope Installation • Mike Brown © 2019
The Death of Streit's
20 years on the Lower East Side. Legacies fall, but I found the loss of architectural heritage unconscionable as the real estate boom gobbled up property after property, wiping the map of the Lower East Side's built past • Photo Illustration inspired by Conor Harrington • Mike Brown © 2019
Andreas Gursky Remix
There's an impeccable eerieness to the Austin Hyatt Regency. Rows upon rows of faceted balconies frame the atrium under muted amber light. I wanted to flick a switch and send a charge of movement through the bones • Photo Illustration inspired by Andreas Gursky • Mike Brown © 2019
Seven
This was the first accident. When the light is just right, the new towers appear etched in the sky, reflections slicing through clouds. I'd meant to create a panorama but suddenly I started to see what I felt. And so REVERB began • Photo Illustration inspired by 7 World Trade • Mike Brown © 2019
DTLA
The new Broad appeared to glow in the summer wind. Los Angeles light is different. On a clear day, the colors are brighter, edges sharper and our perception of the built environment changes over time • Photo Illustration inspired by The Broad Museum • Mike Brown © 2019
10g
At this rate, let's skip 5g. The soaring atrium canopy struck me as a staggering metaphor to our always-on world, relentlessly craving better wifi in fear we'd actually have to put our phones down and talk to someone • Photo Illustration inspired by Chicago's McCormick Place • Mike Brown © 2019
Bad Robot
I have a storyboard of this one. A series, per se. There's no one quite like JJ Abrams. Just look at all of the worlds Bad Robot imagines, creates, develops, produces, and then invites us to step inside, stunned by wonder and delight. • Photo Illustration inspired by JJ Abrams • Mike Brown © 2019