Painting
Photo credit: Jin S. Lee
Accession Number: C.2015.88.2
Dimensions: 24 in diameter
Dimensions (Metric): 60.96 cm diameter
Dimensions (Metric): 60.96 cm diameter
Source: Lola Sáenz
Credit Line: Gift of Lola Sáenz, the artist
Falling Leaves
Description
Acrylic on stretched linen painting titled Fallen Leaves, created in 2005 by Lola Sáenz. The piece is circular with white paint on black depicting abstract representations of human figures suspended in space. Some appear to be holding hands. In the upper center portion of the painting is text: "911 R.I.P."
Acrylic on stretched linen painting titled Fallen Leaves, created in 2005 by Lola Sáenz. The piece is circular with white paint on black depicting abstract representations of human figures suspended in space. Some appear to be holding hands. In the upper center portion of the painting is text: "911 R.I.P."
Historical Notes
New York-based artist Lola Sáenz witnessed the attack at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Her abstract painting depicts figures reaching out to one another.
New York-based artist Lola Sáenz witnessed the attack at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Her abstract painting depicts figures reaching out to one another.
Curator's Comment
From her rooftop, self-taught artist Lola Sáenz, who has resided in the East Village since 1993, watched the Twin Towers burn and fall. Within 24 hours of the attacks, Sáenz had created a painting and left it at Union Square, where New Yorkers were congregating to console one another and share memories. As she continued to process the tragedy, particularly her experience of witnessing people falling from the fire-engulfed floors of the Towers, she created the homage Falling Leaves. She recalled the visceral horror of watching “a symphony of people dancing, flying, crying, dying, and burning into ashes.” Rather than commemorating those realities, however, Sáenz elected to depict the goodness and compassion of humanity in extremis, with the figures in her work reaching out to grab hands with one another.
Sáenz grew up in El Paso, Texas, and moved to New York in 1990. During her artistic career, she has frequently turned to urban life as her subject matter and rendered it in a bold palette, with varying degrees of abstraction.
HIDE
From her rooftop, self-taught artist Lola Sáenz, who has resided in the East Village since 1993, watched the Twin Towers burn and fall. Within 24 hours of the attacks, Sáenz had created a painting and left it at Union Square, where New Yorkers were congregating to console one another and share memories. As she continued to process the tragedy, particularly her experience of witnessing people falling from the fire-engulfed floors of the Towers, she created the homage Falling Leaves. She recalled the visceral horror of watching “a symphony of people dancing, flying, crying, dying, and burning into ashes.” Rather than commemorating those realities, however, Sáenz elected to depict the goodness and compassion of humanity in extremis, with the figures in her work reaching out to grab hands with one another.
Sáenz grew up in El Paso, Texas, and moved to New York in 1990. During her artistic career, she has frequently turned to urban life as her subject matter and rendered it in a bold palette, with varying degrees of abstraction.
HIDE
