“Exposed Heart” found on the Lower East Side, from Christopher Frederick’s blog Urban Love Daily.
This month’s Featured Artist is Christopher Frederick, who recently started a blog called Urban Love Daily. Christopher posts a photograph each day – an image from around the city representing “love.” The result is a surprising array of heartfelt photos, emerging from the grit of New York City.
He told The Lo-Down:
The heart photos began one day when I was walking around the galleries of Chelsea and saw that someone drew a heart right on the crotch of a man in an underwear add on a bus stop shelter. It made me laugh so hard that I had to take a picture of it with my cell phone. I showed it to a friend who reminded me of a picture I took on the boardwalk of Coney Island years ago of a Popsicle that was melting into the shape of a heart. Suddenly I started seeing hearts everywhere I went. Finally I broke out my good camera and began to hunt them down. To my surprise, the more I looked the more I saw. I can’t go more than three blocks anymore without seeing a heart in the city. I knew the heart imagery would be too sentimental for the gallery scene, but thought it could make a nice gift book, book of postcards, or even funny greeting cards. Then I realized how hard and expensive it is to get stuff published or printed, yet I really wanted people to see these images as they really struck a chord with me. A blog was the natural solution. I think what compels me to keep taking the images is that they are not typically saccharine. I search for hearts that feel smart or tough or raw. I am looking for something honest and deep within the common language of a heart and the word love, the confluence of what is personal and universal – or at least urban. It can be tough to find love in this city, despite (or maybe because of) how many awesome people are here. For me, this process is a reminder to keep the grit in balance with idealism. At the very least it’s a reminder that love can be found in some of the most unexpected places.
Please visit our photo gallery for more about Christopher and to view some of our favorites.
