Dan Witz

Williamsburg, Brooklyn turned out to be an ideal location for my summer 1997 project. Neighborhoods of shifting demographics – in this case, Polish, Black, art school/bohemian, Hispanic, Orthodox Jewish – seem to be productive environments for me to work in. It’s not only that I’m pretty much left alone, it’s that there’s a more dynamic variety of textures to respond to. Graffiti styles clash more violently – more territorily than what I’ve found in ethnically homogenous neighborhoods. And the diversity in renovation techniques makes for a broader and more challenging deviation in surfaces.