Construction

Finke began “Construction” at the height of the building boom in Manhattan in early 2008. As skyscrapers were going up at frenzied pace, the artist hoped to capitalize upon all of the energy. However, the real estate market soon collapsed, and what Finke found instead were often empty sites with very little going on. Finke writes: “It would feel like being out in the desert or in the middle of nowhere. A lot of the time it was just staring at a ladder on the roof of a building, all by itself.” As Whitney Johnson comments: “In the documentary tradition, Finke’s observations of this subset of society reveal something about our time.” She continues: “These pictures are not about drama or awe, [n]or are they about architectural feat. . . Instead Finke takes an honest look at what it means to be—at the daily task of being—a construction worker.”