"THE HOLE" ACE PRESTON GROUND ZERO 20 APR 08 NYC

This art show was done for the victims of 9/11 by the artist known as Victor Matthews. Each umbrella was hand painted with a monarch butterfly and numbered close to 3,000 (2,985 exact) individual pieces. The umbrella was chosen because of the 4 Story Red Neon Umbrella Symbol for Travelors Group which hangs from a building on Greenwich Street in TriBeCa overlooking Ground Zero. The concept of the Monarch Butterflies (while in the caterpillar stage are poisonous to predators & one of the few insects capable of making transatlantic crossings) was suppose to symbolize a re-birth in the lives lost that day. There were a total of 2 shows. The first show was suppose to take place on the Hudson River while the umbrellas floated on the water's surface. It was these same waters that Giovanni da Verrazano entered in 1524 for France, Esteban Gomez 1525 Spain, Henry Hudson 1609 Dutch East India Company, and Adrian Block 1613 Amsterdam. Rough conditions had the umbrellas moved indoors to the former site of the NYC Office Of Emergency Management during The Armory Show from March 7-10, 2003 at PIER 92. Show #2 was held outdoors at Battery Park City from June 7-20, 2004 near the former site where General George Washington on August 29, 1776 was forced to leave New York after being attacked by the British & Germans during the "Battle of Long Island". On September 11, 1777 Washington lost Philadelphia, the new capital to the British during the Battle of Brandywine. On April 30, 1789 Washington would give the new nation it's 1st Inaugural Address at nearby Wall Street as President of the United States. Neither of the exhibits drew much attention. There was very little publicity since it was done by true artists. The Black & White photo is the only known shot I have ever taken of the Twin Towers. It was coincidental, I was actually trying to capture the image of the commercial airliner landing at LaGuardia Airport.