Irish Artist Documents Rebirth Of The World Trade Center

By Vincent Murphy

For the past five years, an Irish artist has been on site at Ground Zero documenting the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.

Belfast-born Marcus Robinson has been given unique access to the site since 2006, producing drawings, paintings and time-lapse film that capture each step of the reconstruction.

"When I had the idea, in my heart I knew that whatever it took, whatever happened, it would be something I'd be prepared to commit my life to doing," he said during a visit to his amazing studio last week.

Robinson could easily be mistaken for a builder as he walks around the site in his hard hat and high-visibility vest.

But instead of steel or concrete, he carries a 35mm camera and a sketch pad.

He started filming in 2006, when the first piece of the foundation of WTC Tower 1 was being laid.

"There was a sense of this extraordinary moment," he recalls, "I didn't know how long it would last.

"I didn't know if I would be let back on the site. I didn't know if this was just a one-off miracle to be there. And that spirit continued for a long time."

But in the years since, Robinson has been allowed to go on site as he wishes.

He developed strong ties with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Silverstein Properties - the site's developers and leaseholders, and Roger and Sons, the company developing Tower 4.

Silverstein has even given him the entire 48th floor of the completed WTC Tower 7 building to use as his studio.

The extraordinary space offers a bird's eye view of the construction site, and a panorama of New York City.

Robinson is also on first name terms with many of the construction workers on site.

"One of the most inspiring and extraordinary things is the friendship and solidarity and belief and inspiration of the guys on the site," he says.

To date, Robinson has produced 60 drawings and about 30 paintings all done directly on site.

In addition, he has created more than 20 large scale paintings, more than 8 feet tall.

He's also captured every key moment in the construction process on his time-lapse film.

Eventually he hopes to put the entire body of work into a large scale exhibition, which will tell the narrative of the rebuilding, "something timeless and universal about the human spirit, and not just a nuts and bolts documentary about the rebuilding".

"There are people who I would love to be involved in it, at the very top end of the art dealing business in New York," he says, "At the moment, a few collectors have bought works, but I'm trying not to sell too much."

Robinson has been funding the entire project himself since the beginning, and plans to stick with it until the entire World Trade Centre site is completed.

He was recently featured on CNN during their coverage of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, sparking a spike in visitors to his website www.marcusrobinsonart.com

"In my heart, it never ever feels like a construction site. It feels like an amazing, sacred, three dimensional, piece of beautiful art. All of the people who are building it have some artistic gift in their soul that they are bringing to it."