Brooklyn Bridge1: Vertigo
- Artist:
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Production Date: 1988
- Description: Much of Hardie's work draws inspiration from his love of flying and the open spaces of the west coast and islands of Scotland but this artwork is one of a series painted after a walk he took over Brooklyn Bridge in New York and concerns people's reactions to journeys both metaphorical and actual. "You start off feeling brave but as the journey goes on you get more vulnerable".The figure in this image is Pam So (1947 - 2010), partner of James Hardie at the time. James and Pam visited New York and walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, from Brooklyn into Manhattan. He describes it as a very strange experience - the foot bridge is above the height of the road bridge and is very old, through the missing wooden slats you can see straight down to the Hudson River. As they walked, he recounted that those coming the other way would be calling "the end of the world is nigh" or "I'm going to jump, I'm going to jump!". Hardie says that he wanted to capture the sense of fragility up there and also the wind. The flapping shapes in the image were inspired by washing flapping on a line, giving that sense he wanted to capture of the experience of being among all that wind.
- Dimensions: 133 cm (H) x 150 cm (W)
- Digital Copy:A digital copy exists.
- Location: Store
- Related Material: AC/AF/H/3
- Related Material: AC/OF/2000/3
- Accession Number: 2000.3
- Contact: University of Stirling Art Collection