Arne Svenson
Neighbors #13, 2012/2022
30 x 45 inch archival pigment print
Edition 5 of 5

Written by Wenjie (Demi) Zhao

Copy Edited by Kee’nan Haggen

Photo Edited by Athena Abdien

Arne Svenson’s latest solo exhibition, The Neighbors at Danziger Gallery, reveals a unique New Yorker perspective. There’s a delicate balance between fine art and photography, resulting in a thought-provoking and visually evocative display of photographs exploring the complexity of voyeurism and privacy. The show presents a collection of images Svenson captured of his neighbors in a Mondrianesque grid of floor-to-ceiling windowpanes without their knowledge or consent. A decade ago, Svenson began photographing everyday life scenes as seen through the windows of a newly constructed building across the street from where he had lived in Lower Manhattan for 30 years.

Arne Svenson
Neighbors #5, 2012
30 x 45 inch archival pigment print
Artist proof after an edition of 5

Svenson’s work is compelling because he captures his subjects' lives' ordinary and mundane moments. His photographs are similar to Vermeer's domestic and genre paintings and Edward Hopper’s New York, providing the viewer with a portal into the lives of other families while charting the artist’s enduring fascination with the city. In “Neighbors #57,” Svenson’s photograph achieves a subtle balance, an artistic state that lingers in both painting and photography. The anonymous individuals depicted represent all humankind, and the strength of the imagery lies in the universality of the everyday moments captured in what we see as the incognito figures of The Neighbors. The play of light upon the subjects, the shadows, and the structure's framing all create a paradoxical photographic collection full of human warmth and suspicious voyeurism.

Arne Svenson
Neighbors #15, 2012
30 x 45 inch archival pigment print
Edition 4 of 5

Whether the invasion of space is desired or to be avoided, the interpretation is entirely up to the viewer. The images are not posed or staged but documentation of mundane moments many take for granted. Despite the initial invasion of privacy, Svenson’s subjects are transformed into abstract and anonymous figures, their identities hidden behind windows and blinds. The scenes depicted range from a man lounging on a couch to a couple sharing a tender moment to a bulldog gazing out of the window. While some may view Svenson’s actions as invasive and unethical, others may see it as a commentary on the ubiquity of surveillance in modern society. Regardless of one's stance on the issue, the photographs display Svenson’s mastery of light and shadow and intentionally cropping the composition to make the subject unrecognizable.

Arne Svenson
Neighbors #60, 2012/2022
30 x 45 inch archival pigment print
Edition 1 of 5

Arne Svenson
Neighbors #16, 2012
46 x 30 inch archival pigment print
Edition 3 of 5

The Neighbors is a record of the city around Svenson and a visually stunning exhibition that challenges the viewer’s perceptions of privacy and surveillance. The metal mullions divide the windows into rectangular sections, and the lens focuses on the window pane, giving the scenes a blurred and hazy beauty. The unfettered views are unconsciously truthful and tender. The window panes serve as a prescription for his evocative distillations of urban experience, amplified by his sharp lens. The exhibition brings together many of Svenson’s artistic city pictures that inspire new insights into the boundaries between public and private spaces and offer a fresh take on the role of photography in contemporary culture.