Dusty Berke with her award-winning photograph Playing Statues on Bleecker. Photo by Karen Rempel.
Dusty Berke received an award for her arresting photograph Playing Statues on Bleecker on October 16th at the prestigious Salmagundi Club. The photograph of West Village model and photojournalist Karen Rempel originally appeared in the “Karen’s Quirky Style” column in the May 2019 issue of WestView News.
A combination of elements contribute to the photo’s appeal. Dusty captured Karen’s eye-catching style, engaging smile, and luminous joie de vivre—the first things to draw the viewer’s attention. Karen strikes a prayerful pose with Chaim Gross’s uplifting bronze sculpture The Family, which he cast in 1979 and presented in 1991 to the City of New York in honor of Mayor Ed Koch’s service to the city (1978-1989). The complementary orange tones in the jacket and brick building, balanced with the gray shades of the granite and paving stones, please the eye and offer both excitement and rest. The symmetry of the triangular shapes of the statue, pedestal, and trousers demonstrates Dusty’s true artistic eye. A tiny detail, visible in the enlarged printed photo, is the words “Greenwich Village Historic District” on the West 11th Street sign.
It’s fitting that this photo appeared in an exhibit of artwork celebrating the diverse, unique character of Greenwich Village and marking the 50th anniversary of the Greenwich Village Historic District. The exhibit, which ended on October 27th, also celebrated the centennial of Salmagundi Club’s present location in an Italianate mansion at 47 Fifth Avenue.
There were about 90 artworks in the exhibit. Six awards were granted—five of them to established artists and current members of the Salmagundi Club. Our Dusty was the breakthrough artist of the show. Congratulations, Dusty! We at WestView are very proud of you.
Some artworks from the exhibit are still available for sale. Contact the Salmagundi Club at 212.255.7740.
