He Built This City
This is from the Museum of the City of New York website:
He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model celebrates the extraordinary vision and dedication behind one of the most ambitious handmade representations of New York City ever created. For the first time in New York—Macken’s muse—the artist’s monumental model will be presented to the public at the Museum of the City of New York.
Queens-born artist Joe Macken began the project in 2004. Over the next 21 years, working first in Middle Village, Queens and later in Clifton Park, New York, he devoted himself to crafting a vast architectural portrait of the city he calls home. Built entirely by hand using everyday materials—including balsa wood, cardboard, and glue—the model spans 50 by 27 feet and comprises over 340 individual sections. It renders the city’s skyline, neighborhoods, and landmarks with remarkable precision, character, and imagination. Macken started with the Comcast Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, infusing its familiar form with details that signal his personal artistic vision.
He wasn't an artist when he started, just a guy. Here's an article about him: A Truck Driver Spent 20 Years Building a Miniature Model of New York City. Then, It Went Viral.
We went today (along with seeing Museo de Barrio, which was fantastic) and I took some pictures. You'll have to zoom in because the scope is so massive it's difficult to photograph.
The second image was taken zoomed in with my camera. Our neighborhood is actually in there, and I was even able to find our street. Incredible.
Around the first image you can see small information pages, and on one of them he explained that he only wanted to do one building at first (the Rockefeller Center, I think, though it was called the RCA Center then). When it was done, he decided to do one more. Then he just kept working, day after day. "It's just consistency," he said.
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