A Longtime Artist Reimagines City Landmarks
Abstract
Ms. Karalla, who is in her 60s, splits her time between Newburgh, where she develops and prints photos, and Manhattan, where she has rented the same two-bedroom rent-stabilized apartment in a tenement building for 34 years. Excited about working with a local artist, Mr. Zeckendorf and Mr. Stockwell went back to Ms. Karalla and asked if she was interested in shooting a series of new photos specifically for the 20-story building - 17 shots that would be hung on each wall you see as you exit the elevator on 17 different floors. Ms. Karalla had never created art for anyone but herself and was a bit nervous her ideas might not jibe with the developer's. For her boathouse shot, Ms. Karalla balanced on a rock over the water and nearly fell in. "My DNA is in those shots." Ms. Karalla made the Guggenheim look like an alien spacecraft, with the offending plant life framing her shot. With help from the income from the Zeckendorf project, Ms. Karalla is now shopping for her own building in Newburgh. To showcase Ms. Karalla's work and help her sell more of it, Mr. Zeckendorf is hosting a photo exhibit in an unoccupied, $11.5 million terraced apartment in the Lexington Avenue building.