'30 Years Hanging on the Edge'

Brooklyn-based artist Peter J. Ketchum has a new exhibit now showing at the New City Gallery 155 First Ave. (at 10th Street) through Oct. 24 titled "30 Years Hanging on the Edge."

He told me a little more about his work.

"Over the years, critics have labeled my work Retropop, Grandpop and Folkpop Art. Whatever POP, it is derived from actual images and words found in printed ephemera — snapshots, ads, postcards, comics, coloring books etc. from 1867 - 1950s. Every word in the mixed-media work appeared in print somewhere. I invented none of it. That is the horror of it."

Ketchum, who says his "family has been on this Island since the 1630s when there was a wall separating the Lower East Side from the dangers of bears," collected the ephemera from around the world, mostly flea markets and tag sales.

"I am interested in subjects ranging from the origin and perpetuation of stereotypes to the death of civility. My work looks at the impermanence of individuals and the long afterlife of their prejudices and foibles."

Here's a look at some of his work.





The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.