James Gulliver Hancock describes himself as a man of many obsessions, and of his obsessions, his love of buildings has become "the most obsessive." He began channeling this obsession back in 2010, when he started drawing the New York City buildings that he loves. Now, three years and 350-some drawings later, the Australian-born illustrator is publishing a book of his artworks called "All the Buildings In New York (That I've Drawn So Far)," which grew out of his blog by the same name. He recently talked with the Times about the ongoing project, and he graciously allowed us to share some of his buildings in the gallery above.
New York City has a lot of ugly buildings, but Hancock swears he doesn't hate any. "I love the Brutalist ones that are really horrible to be in and to be around," he told the Times. "You can't find the entrance. I find them amazing aesthetically. I really don't want to have anything to do with them, but they look incredible."
He maps the buildings on his blog, while lower Manhattan and Brooklyn have by far seen the most of his artistic touch, every borough is represented. All 900,000 buildings of New York City is a rather ambitious task, and Hancock admits that he probably won't draw every single brownstone in Brooklyn. But he also gets "anxious" to draw new buildings that he sees, so it sounds like an addiction that he won't be kicking anytime soon.
· Blog: All the Buildings In New York [official]
· Book: All the Buildings In New York [Rizzoli]
· New York as a Work in Progress [NYT]
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