In the work of Robert Latchman, the Brooklyn Bridge takes on many different forms: It twists, turns, bends and distorts; it becomes many different colors, from stark and dreary gray hues to eye-popping Technicolor. The Trinidadian-born artist, who lives in Brooklyn, has taken the famous bridge as the inspiration for much of his new work, included in “The Bridge! The Bridge!” a recent solo exhibition at the LAND Gallery, a studio and gallery for 16 adult artists with developmental disabilities, which is located in Dumbo.

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‘The Boats With People Canoeing’

While the bridge is Latchman’s current inspiration, you can see, in the drawings and paintings that follow, how extensive his vision actually can be: Both self-portraits and depictions of others, along with abstractions that play with color and shape, are included. He is paying tribute to the monumental structure not through reverence but using it as raw material, reshaping it as his own.

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‘Brooklyn Bridge Black and White Version’
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‘The Bridge With Triple Colors’
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‘Self Portrait With the Book’
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‘The Bridge, the Ocean and the Black Night’
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‘Abe Lincoln Rules the Bridge’
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‘The Different Bridges Right Across’

[Art by Robert Latchman]

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the Fall/Holiday 2018 issue of Brownstoner magazine.

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