Laura Rosen
Laura Rosen’s subject has always been the landscape, people and energy of New York City. She first explored the city as a photographer, often from high windows and rooftops that looked over a whole world of turrets, gargoyles and gardens. This became the subject of her book, Top of the City: New York’s Hidden Rooftop World, first published in 1982. Her second book, Manhattan Shores: An Expedition Around the Island’s Edge, published in 1998, was an exploration of Manhattan’s entire waterfront. She now depicts the city with watercolor, ink or graphite, creating pieces varying in size from over 3 feet wide on stretched paper to a mere 3 inches wide in a sketchbook. Inspiration in NYC is endless, ranging from a person daydreaming in a café to marching mastodon skeletons at the Museum of Natural History to a lone sunbather on a roof.