Art
“We Are All
Tourists”
BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM
If you walk under the Queensboro
Bridge in Long Island City, you will
likely spot the artwork of local artist
Cristian Pietrapiana.
Pietrapiana was selected by the
city’s Department of Transportation
Art Program to display his work on a
fence surrounding the bridge. His work
was chosen because it “raises questions
of identity, change, technology,
environment and immigration.”
The piece, titled “We Are All Tourists,”
consists of six panels depicting
600 years of travelers passing through
the city. Pietrapiana started with the
“pre-Columbian period” and then highlighted
the following centuries.
Scenes highlighting Columbus, Native
Americans, pilgrims, the industrial
revolution and present-day New York
City are created with intricate lines.
“I started with the pre-Columbian
period and then showcased each of the
following centuries,” he said. “Whether
we settle here or just visit,at the end of
the day we are all ‘passing by’ in this life.”
Though Pietrapiana works with different
mediums, this style of drawing
with lines began a few years ago while
he was on vacation, he said.
“I travel light, and all I had was paper
and a marker. I liked the results I got
and developed it,” he said.
“We Are All Tourists” originally started
out much smaller but Pietrapiana
had them digitally reproduced and
enlarged by local professionals. The
pieces are displayed using a chronological
order so that passersby could
more easily digest his message.
“I consider these drawings more
than paintings,” he said. “Since the
DOT Art Program had this public site
here in Long Island City, I considered
that something more lineal would tell a
story more effectively to the constant
audience of vehicle passengers driving
by and pedestrians.”
The DOT partnered with Local Project,
a Long Island City-based art studio,
to bring students from Middle College
High School to the scene. They discussed
the piece with Pietrapiana and
were encouraged to draw scenes they
felt may have been missing or provide
their reactions through drawing.
Their reactions as well as the original
pieces will be displayed at Local
Project in April 2018, when they are
removed from the Queensboro Bridge
site.
Pietrapiana, who grew up in Argentina,
was inspired to pursue art
while watching his artist grandfather
“paint, clean his brushes, and stretch
his canvases.”
His father was also involved in design
and construction. But Pietrapiana’s
family encouraged him to follow a more
viable career path.
“I was persuaded not to study art
because of the typical notion that I
would not find a good job to survive
in my country, so I do not have an
academic background in art,” he said. “I
studied social communication instead,
and worked in advertising.”
But when he moved to New York
City in 1992, he decided to pursue
art full time. Currently, Pietrapiana is
working on project with the New York
Times where he will “interpret the news
in a playful manner” using art.
Pietrapiana is also speaking with
other art institutions in the city to
display “We Are All Tourists” in other
locations.
“This will create more opportunities
for public discourse with this project
— interactions that will raise questions
on the environment, immigration
technology and change as a constant
variable,” he said. “Raising questions
and consciousness makes us all better
citizens of this great city.”
