Brooklyn artist Gavin Snyder loves to capture the energy of New York City through his urban sketches. To do this, he visits particularly lively areas of the city, such as Grand Central Station, Greenwich Village, and Chinatown. In his works, he eloquently demonstrates why people want to live in Brooklyn or another borough of New York City. And the reason is quite trivial, everyone knows it — there are so many different things to see and do here.
From modern structures to historic buildings, his pen-and-ink drawings are simply a visualization of this knowledge and these thoughts, reflecting what makes the city such an exciting place to live and work. For more details about the work and life of this Brooklyn artist, visit brooklynski.info.
About architecture
Gavin Snyder lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, where he paints to slow down the world and to better understand the places and people around him. With a background in architecture, Gavin focuses his work on buildings and cityscapes. Several times a week, he chooses a place: either a famous landmark or an unfamiliar neighborhood: packs up his sketchbook and goes to paint. In a sense, his paintings are a form of urbanism, a study of urban life.
Gavin Snyder studied architecture at the University of Kansas. Since he had to draw a lot while studying, he stopped painting for a while. Instead, he started playing music – he learnt to play the guitar and started bands – very bad at first. But as soon as the bands got better, Snyder drew posters to promote them. This allowed him not to forget his life’s passion.
It gave him back that childhood sense of wonder and wonder. The idea behind his posters was to be eye-catching, so that the picture on the wall was the first thing anyone noticed when they entered the room. So it didn’t matter if it was an octopus attacking a spaceship or a giant sloth blowing up the Students’ Union, it was always some kind of ridiculous thing.
Gavin’s personal creative breakthrough happened in the autumn of 2012, when he painted a cityscape for a billboard for a foundation. Everyone saw it. After school, Snyder got a job at Hufft Projects, an architectural and design firm.
In 2015, 30-year-old Gavin Snyder moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to Brooklyn, and after that his social media feeds were filled with detailed drawings of both cities. He loves to draw, loves baseball, and loves to notice the differences between drawing in Kansas City and New York.
Gavin says that sometimes he has a very specific goal, and it can vary. For example, he once tried to draw fire stations. That is, every few days he would go to see a new fire station, take pictures of it, return home and look at what he had done, telling himself that one day he would definitely draw it. Sometimes, when going for a walk, Gavin would walk for so long until something inspired him.
He began drawing buildings, something that is not so strongly associated with people, because it is something that everyone, including the artist himself, is surrounded by every day. Architects appreciate architecture, and besides them, many other people appreciate architecture. But for the most part, few people are directly concerned with these things in their everyday lives. However, when Gavin Snyder’s drawings appeared online, people immediately reacted to the sketches of buildings. This surprised the artist in a way.
About the specifics of working in Brooklyn
Recalling his life in Kansas City, Gavin Snyder says that there is a more developed car culture there. That is, not many people walk the streets there, they drive cars. So, depending on where you are, where you need to go, people can drive all day long without even stopping to walk on the sidewalk to talk to someone.
Snyder says that in Kansas City, there is a Midwestern rule where everyone respects everyone’s personal space and will not necessarily bother someone on the street, even if they know them from social media. However, in New York, and therefore in Brooklyn, there is no such censorship or expectations. People just come up to you and want to talk about something, and they are very direct. They usually want to talk about his drawings and his work. It’s really nice, it’s really cool, Gavin believes, if only because this behavior of people seems to bring his drawings to life, making them real and alive.
Also, Gavin Snyder adds, many people in such conversations show him their love for certain buildings, or vice versa, show their pure hatred for buildings. In Chinatown, Snyder says, a lot of old Chinese people would approach the artist, nodding their heads, then step back and look at his drawings. In this way, these elderly people with endless experience simply encouraged the artist. At some points, Gavin adds, it was like a kind of coaching that was supposed to make him move on.
In general, in Brooklyn, many people are proud of the place where they live. When they see an artist as an outsider who comes and paints these places, meaning that he likes them too, the locals are even prouder. This is how you connect with the community.
This is a part of his work that Gavin Snyder has loved ever since he moved to Brooklyn, and he finds it very interesting and instructive, albeit at first very unexpected, for a metropolis like New York. As an artist, he is very pleased to hear from people that they recognize the objects he paints, saying that I studied here, or that I worked here. The artist recalls painting a fire station in Prospect Heights. He was approached by five firefighters, who asked him where their truck had gone. They asked him to put it back with smiles.
About my twin brother
Gavin Snyder says that he has been drawing since he was a young child, since he was either 3 or 4 years old. It is something he loves to do and does it all the time, he adds. He has a twin brother, his name is Grant Snyder. He also draws, which is true, he is a caricaturist and also works as an orthodontist. Basically, these are parallel paths: Grant has his art, Gavin has his. The brothers often communicate, calling each other every day or every few days.
They discuss the directions of their work and exchange views on certain projects. And this dialogue has been going on throughout their adult lives. In addition, such communication, according to Gavin Snyder, allows him to have something outside his daily work, which can sometimes be frustrating, although mostly inspiring.
About earnings
But you can’t be satisfied with inspiration alone. Each work involves a material reward. Gavin Snyder says he sells his work on his own website. His postcards are sold in the shops of the Nelson-Atkins and Kemper museums. So, Gavin can say that his work is represented in these museums. This is also inspiring because it is a wonderful fact. His postcards are hanging on the wall with about 50 others. Of course, you can see and admire them, but you can’t find them. But some people, Gavin says, look for them and find them.
And the Westside Storey, on the Westside, is another very cool store that also sells his Royals sports posters. And to close the topic, a few words about a New York store called Leisure Life, which sells Myrtle Avenue prints by Gavin Snyder.
Sources: