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The Asher Levy School in New York's East Village.
(Photo by David E. Brown)
| Like most American cities, New York is awash with hundreds of
utilitarian factories, commercial buildings, warehouses and schools. by David E. Brown New York boasts some of the world's greatest Modern buildings--Lever House, the Chase Manhattan Bank Tower, the U.N. Building, to name a few. But, like most American cities, it's also awash with humble Modernism, hundreds (thousands? more?) of utilitarian factories, commercial buildings, apartments, warehouses, and schools. Many are faded, dirty, and ill-cared for, but with their sharp, low lines, banks of metal-framed windows, faintly lustrous glazed brick, and ubiquitous sans-serif signage, it's easy to imagine the days when they were fresh, sparkling, and even beautiful. At the Asher Levy School, in New York's East Village, this Modernism has become even more humble. Somewhere, over the course of the school's 30-odd years, a few parts of its name fell off. Rather than accept such gaps, as a lesser institution might, someone took plywood, roofing nails, and silver spray paint and filled in those holes. From a distance, the illusion of perfection remains; close up, the human hand shows through. |
Keywords:
humble, Modernism, Asher Levy School
