Cusi

www.ArtPal.com/cusi

Hello and welcome to my gallery.
I’m an artist, traveler and native New Yorker.
I'm fortunate to experience the beauty of many cultures. The world is a small town, be kind to each other.

How This Work Came To Be …

Growing up in New York City, I’ve always been surrounded by a rapid energy. The days can feel intense and heavy. Building stand so high they sometimes overshadow the sun. Night falls and lights beaming from countless windows making it hard to spot the moon. People are in a constant hurry. Eye contact is rare. It’s easy to lose the moment. Time flies and what’s left is an exhausted mind and drained body. Somewhere along the way we lose our sense of peace.
One night in 2013, I stood at the corner of 42nd street and Lexington Avenue. In front of me was the Chrysler building. A block up stood Grand Central Station. The MetLife building was within eyeshot. The Empire State building was in the near distance. I looked up and just stared. In between and behind and around all of these incredible structures, I felt God. I sensed a holy spirit in all of it. The visualizations were larger than life. Divinity dwarfed every skyscraper and monument in front of me. My fingers snapped photos quicker than my eye could focus. I was capturing the sacred between the spaces. I desperately needed to express the divinity I felt. It was beyond my own comprehension and, too difficult to put into words. I thought the effort to manifest what I saw and felt would be impossible. After a few hundred photos, I rushed home to translate what I visualized. The result is, “Saints In the City.”
In this ongoing series, I try to blend images of the divine within this rough and rigid place. There’s no exclusive process. Photos are usually taken at night and most times, after a strong rain. The contrast of leftover water shining on the edges of buildings and glossing the tar streets is pretty magical. The spiritual icons somehow naturally take the forefront. Their fade is intentional. I want these beautiful images to blend seamlessly into a common view of city. The colors are usually gritty and sometimes blurred. This is intentional so that each person selects the colors only his or her eyes focus on.
This is my homage to the spiritual and divine. It’s a message to anyone who’s ever felt lost or lonely. Look up and a little further. We are never alone.

All images © 2016 Tina Mancusi. All rights reserved. No reproduction of any kind is permitted.