Features Overview

Feature 1

This suite of etchings derives from a series of drawings of an area known as Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. The work, made in 1974, records the west side of Ninth Avenue from 48th to 49th Street. Today this street bears little resemblance to the one viewed in this artwork. NINTH AVENUE SUITE celebrates an historic neighborhood on the threshold of change. Kirk had just returned to New York from living in Europe where he was struck by the reverence for historic spaces. The city he returned to was in the midst of massive development and ultimately gentrification. This work is the artist’s homage to a particular time and place, and to the people and neighborhood it portrays.

The edition of 100 includes 50 fully inked sets (as seen above), 25 sets of selectively wiped prints in grey and black and 25 sets of color screen prints. The works, printed by the artist, were first shown at Gimpel and Witzenhoffer and at Pace Editions.

Following the edition of the NINTH AVENUE SUITE, Kirk created a portfolio of DOORWAYS, a series of six etchings and aquatints made in 1975 that record architectural details from the same neighborhood. These prints were published in an edition of 75 by Associated American Artists and Susan Weisberger. The works were printed by Mohammad Omar Khalil. Each doorway has an image size of 23.5 x 14.5 inches printed on a 30 x 22 inch sheet of Arches Cover.