Many readers chimed in to let us know that the dreamlike and PG-13 vision of an already forgotten New York skyline-to-be?the one hanging out at the bar at Tribeca's City Hall?is the work of artist Robert Mango, who has a studio two blocks west of the place. The artist himself even directed us to his website, where there is a lengthy personal statement about the painting, entitled "Fallen Towers." A taste:
In May '04 when I started seeing this painting in my minds eye the only designs available for these bld.'s were the finalists sketches on the cover of N.Y. POST. Websites had little and there still are no blu-prints in the public domain for these buildings. At length I managed to get a fairly clear idea as to what Mr. Liberskind and Santiago Calatrava had in mind. It was somewhat of a challenge to paint the buildings accurately before they are built. Time will tell over the next several years how well I have accurately imagined there appearance.Well, Rob, it was worth a shot. We'll give you that.
· The New York Skyline That Never Will Be [Curbed]
· Fallen Towers [robertmango.com]